


Abominable 2.0

by Ecofinisher



Category: Abominable (2019)
Genre: F/M, Fanfiction sequel, First Aid, Inspired by a Movie, Minor Character Death, Minor Original Character(s), Mixed breed dog, Road Trips, canon kinda hints them to be romantic interested thou, inspired by a dream
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-28
Updated: 2020-03-08
Packaged: 2021-02-24 23:14:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 72,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22006036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ecofinisher/pseuds/Ecofinisher
Summary: Yi and co. receive a letter from a relative from Mr. Burnish, who askes the trio to accomplish one of Burnish's last will by going to the Mt. Everest. The two teens rejected the help, but soon the two figure out, that Peng rolled out behind their back to fulfill the wish on his own and together the two teens have to travel across China once again to bring Peng back home. Throughout the time Yi and Jin are on their own, both land in so much trouble together, needing each other to get out of it which strengthens their relationship with the time leading them into love (again).
Relationships: Yi/Jin (Abominable)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first long-fanfic in the Abominable fandom. It‘s sort of inspired by a dream I had after watching the movie. It sort of was a type of sequel I had dreamt of, but many things were missing though. I thought why not turn it into fanfic?

****Chapter 1** **

_On the top of an apartment building in the Chinese metropole Shanghai a man walked on the roof with a young girl towards a small shack, that consisted of old, unused roof panels all leaned against the wall of the emergency exit to the roof. The entrance of the shack was half-covered with a white bed sheet and the edge of the cover was tied back to the corner up on a wooden pole, so that it would be fixed. The man let the girl enter into the space, then turned on a light, so that they could see right in front of them a large map of China plastered with several postcards of different places around the country._

“ _Did you bring the glue with you?” The man asked gazing down at the short girl, that stood beside him._ _The girl took out from the jeans she was wearing at the moment and showed it to her father._

“ _Here dad”_ _The girl answered, then the man looked at the map and placed his finger under a postcard with the image of a desert, then looked down at the girl._

“ _Do you think this spot is suitable for the picture?” Questioned the man earning a nod from the child. “Good then we stick it here”_

_The girl removed the cap of the glue and got closer to the map and lifted her feet up to reach with her arms close to the image and placed the sticky glue on the sheet moving it a little up and down to spread the adhesive, thereafter she placed the cap of the glue stick back and placed it back inside the pocket of her jeans. Her father took from the inside of his dress jacket a small notebook, which he opened to show it to the girl, where there lied between the pages a cut-out picture of a white-colored highspeed train, afterward the girl took the image and placed it over the glue, that she had put on the country map and passed her hand over it to smooth it._

“ _Well done Yi” The man complimented patting the girl on the head, then the girl embraced her father and looked together with him at the card._

“ _When will we be able to visit all these places?”_ _Yi asked gazing up at her father which rolled his eyes down at the girl with a small chuckle._

“ _One day my angel” The raven-haired man responded placing his index finger in the middle of his glasses to shove them up his nose bridge. “_ _You know we’re going to need a lot of money for us to go see these places again”_

“ _I know dad”_

“ _But don’t worry, you will see those places someday, I promise” The man promised passing his hand through the black hair locks of his daughter. Yi smiled and hugged her father, which smiled and patted her on the back. Yi took her head away from her father and looked up at the face of her dad smiling simper at the adult, which mirrored her facial expression. His face suddenly turned shocked and he started to scream like a goat putting Yi into shock._

  
  


Meanwhile, a raven-haired girl, that lied covered inside a bed woke up frightened and sat up immediately on her bed crying out loud.

“Ahh!” The girl looked around the room terrified, then saw on the other side of the bedroom a pink-haired girl sitting with her smartphone in her hands laughing.

“Oh Yi, you had to see your face as I played the screaming goat video on high volume,” The teenage girl told the Chinese girl, who growled at the girl’s deed.

“Alex, are you crazy?” Yi shouted throwing her pillow against the girl, which still laughed at her prank.

“Sorry last school day and I feel so euphoric. It’s weird to admit, but I missed my family so much” Alex mentioned placing her smartphone next to the desk, that stood beside her bed.

“Well, you’re not the only one” Yi mentioned stretching her arms up in the air while yawning. “I still video chatted with them every day when it was possible, but it’s not the same”

“Only five hours and you’ll be home in no time” Alex assured the roommate, watching Yi got up from her bed and grabbed the smartphone, she had on the desk next to her bed and pressed the home button of her smartphone to see an image of herself and her father. Yi sat back on her bed sighing a little neutral, which Alex had noted and she got up from her bed and approached her roommate.

“You’re thinking about your dad?” The pink-haired girl asked earning a nod from the girl.

“He was in my dreams before” Yi mentioned placing her phone on the duvet of her bed. “It was a few years ago before when I helped my dad pinning all the postcards and magazine images we cut out from in our free time,”

“Getting over the loss of a family member must be really hard” 

“Honestly the first year was a real pain for me. I…..couldn’t accept the fact he was gone forever. I avoided people at the school, I avoided seeing my mom and grandma spending the rest of the day out of the house figuring out how to make quick money to gather enough for the trip. My friendship with Jin started to subside over the time and we rarely talked with each other. He tried to talk to me a few times, but…..I avoided his attempts.”

“But at least everything is better now, right?”

“Yeah” She responded. “Hey, you know by chance any flower shops or funeral offices, that are open here in the near?”

“I know a few” Alex responded. “I just don’t know their opening time”

“I’d like to pass this evening by the cemetery to visit my dad’s grave and bring him flowers. Today it marks 4 years he passed away” The raven-haired girl explained. “I’m most likely to arrive at 7 pm in Shanghai and until I find the closest flower shop, it will be too late”

“Sure I search up on the internet for the nearest flower shop,” Alex told the friend unlocking her phone starting to look for a store.

“I could be looking for that too. You don’t need to Alex”

“No it’s alright Yi, don’t sweat it” Alex assured making Yi smile, then the phone on Yi’s hand vibrated and she unlocked her smartphone to see one of the social networks she had installed on her smartphone had sent her a notification. Yi opened the message to see Jin’s name appear announcing her, that he had posted a story on his profile. Yi opened the image to see a picture of Jin’s younger cousin Peng throw a basketball, while two taller students stood around him trying to stop the boy.

_I can’t believe my little cuz has scored three times in a row for his team in the final. I’m proud of you!_

Yi pressed down on the bar, where she could type a message and it showed over the screen eight different emojis as quick reaction messages and the girl pressed the applause emoji, sending it to the friend.

“Wow, Peng’s basketball match must have been really amusing” Yi mentioned looking to Alex, which mirrored her back.

“The cousin of your friend?” The pink-haired girl asked earning a nod from Yi. “Is he winning?”

“He scored three times in the final for his team” Yi noted making the friend curious and walk up to the friend, then Yi showed her the picture of Peng. “Peng is his name”

“And how does Jin look like?” The pink-haired girl asked watching Yi tap on Jin’s username landing on his page showing on the profile Jin’s face on which he’s winking with his left eye at the camera.

“He looks weird in this shot,” Alex confessed sitting down on Yi’s bed.

“Weird, half of the girls in Shanghai found him attractive”

“Well, I was always an aroace and didn’t really care about romance and stuff nor liked to talk about boys or girls. But I guess those girls must be right about him”

“Well he dated half of the teenage girls back when he was more into his popularity and his life on social media”

“Damn I didn’t think he was some sort of fuck boy”

“I never asked him anything about his relationships thought, but I don’t think he was that bad. More he…..liked to talk about himself I guess?”

“No wonder half of the city ditched him or did he ditch them?”

“Like I said. I really don’t know it Alex” Yi retorted making the friend smirk.

“I like the fact you defend him as if you actually knew it”

“Alex come on, we have to dress up for lunch” Yi countered to distract her friend from the topic.

“Hey you’re starting to make me think you’ve got a thing for him”

“You’re just overthinking. Serious me and Jin together? I think that wouldn’t work out,“ Yi pointed out walking to the front of her bed, where there stood a dark-brown dresser and she opened the second drawer taking out a red-colored T-shirt. “Also I think I’m not the type of girl he likes, you know girly, fond of dresses, skirts and makeup,” She mentioned searching through the clothes.

“You’re talking nonsense girl. For me you’re out of all these kind of girls the best choice, the problem is Jin hasn’t realized this yet”  
“Okay you’re right, please can we have this conversation another time? I’m kind of in a hurry?”

“Alright if you want. We still have an hour until our first lesson for your information,”

“Yes, but I want to take my breakfast in peace and pack my stuff for tonight” Yi explained her roommate, which walked to her own bed to open the drawer of her commode to get out clothing too to dress up for the day.

  
  


  
  


On the other side of Beijing Jin stood in the corridor along with a few other students around his age on the smartphone waiting as several younger students that were dressed in basketball jersey passed through the corridor all entering into different wardrobes which had on the door noticed the team’s name. One door across Jin opened and his younger cousin Peng got out along with two other students, which were talking with the boy.

“You were grandiose today Peng. If you weren’t here with us, we wouldn’t have had this great start in the match” A taller raven-haired boy with ponytail complimented the cousin of Jin giving the boy a high five. “Can’t wait to see you after the holidays”

“Me too guys, but without you, all our team couldn’t have won either. It’s just because of our teamwork, that we had bigger chances to score”

“Right,” The boy said, then Peng saw Jin and ran at him and held his hand up, so the teen could slap on it.

“Great job little cuz. That was one great final I got to see today” Jin complimented followed by frizzing the hair of the younger boy.

“I can’t believe you came to see my match. I thought you were at the school”

“The last lessons were yesterday I just gave you and my parents the excuse, that I would come later, so I would come to the match and surprise you”

“Thanks, Jin” Peng thanked the cousin, which checked his smartphone again and showed Peng a picture of Peng playing basketball.

“See the number of likes I got of your image. And all the comments congratulating and complimenting you. You should be proud”

“I am Jin, I am”

“Are you going with your team back home?” Jin questioned earning a nod from Peng.

“We’re taking the highspeed train since it’s faster to get home”

“So am I!” Jin added surprised at the coincidence. “16:42?”

“I think so, I have to ask my coach”

“We can stay together in the same row if we’re on the same ride”

“Sure” Peng agreed walking the aisle along with Jin and the two classmates from Peng’s class to the exit.


	2. Chapter 2

****Chapter** ** ****2** **

In the evening Jin sat together with Peng and the students of Peng’s class traveling on a high-speed train back to their city of origin, where their family is. Peng sat next to the window listening to music on an mp3-player watching the landscapes the vehicle passed by. Jin also was doing the same as his cousin, but on his smartphone and had his head leaned back on the seat looking across the cabin bored of the long ride they were in. Jin sighed while passing his hands over his face feeling dull, then he removed his airpods from his ears and took out from the backpack he had down in front of his legs, opening a small pocket on the bag to take out the charger of his airpods and stuck them into it and put it back in the pocket.

Jin placed his hand over Peng’s arm, getting the boy to look at him and remove one plug of one of his ears.

“I’m taking a little walk along the train” Jin stated earning a nod from the boy, which kept listening to the music on his device and Jin got up, walking along the corridor to the other end of the train. He stopped at the arc between the exit doors of the train, where a few teens stood on their phone waiting for their station. Jin looked at a screen, that stood beside the door showing the name of the next station, which the train would stop the next five minutes. Jin turned around suddenly bumping into another person, that had just crossed his way.

“Sorry!” Jin apologized backing off, then he wide his eyes in surprise as he recognized the person he had crashed into. “Yi?” Jin asked gazing at the girl, that had adjusted her backpack on her back, then made eye contact with the taller teen.

“Jin?” Yi questioned neutrally, then she smiled as it was really his friend. “Hey!” She greeted the boy sharing with the boy a hug. “What a surprise”  
“I didn’t expect I would come across you on this ride” Jin mentioned following Yi’s back with his eyes down to her suitcase that she left behind her on the floor. “How are you doing?” Jin asked as Yi took her arms off his back, then glanced behind at her suitcase, that had fallen down on its back. “Shall I help….?” Jin questioned watching Yi pick it up before he had moved forward to the girl. “Or….”

“It’s fine Jin, I got it” Yi answered holding the handle with both of her hands. “How are you doing?”

“I’m good, Peng’s group had at the same time as me the train back home and we’ve been sitting there for the last three hours. For me, it was about time to take a break from sitting and walk a bit back and forth”

“Yeah it’s a little tiring to sit the entire ride on the same spot”

“Yeah” Jin agreed smiling at the friend, that copied his facial expression too, then both looked away from each other in an awkward silence.

“How’s school....” Jin and Yi began at the same time, then got confused at how their words went in sync by coincidence. “How’s school going?” Both said again, followed by a little chuckle at the sentencing again. “Uh….”

“Go ahead” Jin offered making Yi nod. “Does this now mean I have to talk about it or you?” The boy questioned the girl, which giggled at their situation.

“I thought you would explain it first”

“Well it was a severe first year, but I could manage it” Jin explained. “I’m not the best in our class nor at school, but I’m doing good”

“That sounds great” Yi mentioned.

“And what about your course in Technics?”

“I’m doing well too” Responded Yi. “The teachers are a little complicated in doing explanations, but I often work along with my roommate Alex or other students together in groups and we manage to help each other out”

“Is Alex that girl with the pink hair?” Jin asked earning a nod from the girl. “Cool”

“Yeah she’s almost the total opposite of me, but without her, my life at the campus would be boring” Yi mentioned making the boy laugh.

“Well, I’ve spent the first half semester sharing the dorm with an 30-year-old guy, which spend the whole night out of the place. In the end, it turned out to be a cop undercover, which was investigating around the school for something and I think they never found, what they were looking for. My current mate two years older than me and plays on a bass”

“Now that’s cool” Yi confessed earning a nod from Jin.

“Yeah he even borrowed me his bass a few times teaching me a few tunes on it” The raven-haired boy mentioned making the girl smiled. “We should form a band one day if I turn out to be good in the future” He joked making Yi giggle.

“Great idea” Yi responded, then heard the train conductor announce the next stop. Yi pulled her suitcase forward passing beside Jin, which noted Yi was approaching the door.

“Why are you going to leave her?” Jin questioned the girl. “Wouldn’t the train station in Shanghai be closer to our home?”

“Yes, but I was going to the cemetery visit my dad’s grave” Yi mentioned looking at Jin’s face, that was confused at first turn neutral at her answer.

“Oh,” The teen lamented thinking about the late father of the girl.

From the corridor came Peng, which wide his eyes in excitement as he saw Yi standing next to Jin at the exit of the train.

“Yi, you’re here!” Peng shouted jumping at the girl’s arms for a hug.

“There you are….Hey by the way congratulations. I’ve heard about your match. I wish I could have seen it too” Yi commented dropping the pre-teen down on the ground.

“You get to see a few more in the future Yi, I promise” Peng mentioned proud earning a nod from the girl.

“Don’t forget to invite me too cuz” Jin mentioned ruffling the cousin’s hair.

“Of course I do!” The boy answered making Jin and Yi chuckle.

The train was slowing down as it was approaching the next stop and Yi looked at the two boys, which had stopped laughing.

“I have to go”

“Are you sure, you want to go alone?” Jin questioned. “I could accompany you there”

“No, it’s okay Jin. I’m fine” Yi rejected it kindly making Jin nod.

“Alright, but you can always call me if you need help or someone to talk with” Jin expressed earning a nod from the girl.

“I know Jin, thank you,” Yi said embracing the boy from the side leaning her head on his shoulder, making him swallow hard and roll his eyes down at her face, then smile a little lovely. “You’re like the brother I could never have” Yi stated making Jin wide his eyes in shock.

“Y…..yeah….” He responded a little hurt. “But from different parents” He added to hide his reaction, making Yi laugh.

“Too right,” Yi agreed taking her hands off the raven-haired boy, then watched the train come to a full stop and the doors went open, so the first few passengers could leave the cabin.

“See you tonight boys,” Yi told the boys, watching Peng grin and wave at the girl, while Jin waved his hand at the girl watching her with a disappointed face, then the girl left the train looking back at the boys, then gave them an angelic smile. Jin’s mouth slowly changed to a simple smile as he watched Yi waving back at the two Chinese descendant boys, afterward other pedestrians from the outside passed beside Yi to board the train blocking the two boys the sight to the girl. Jin and Peng stepped aside so that the passengers could pass, afterward, Jin looked back at the outside to see Yi had just made her way up to the tunnel, which leads to the other railways of the station and he leaned his back against the wall of the cabin sighing.

“Why didn’t you tell Yi?” Peng asked looking up at his older cousin.

“Tell what?” Jin asked looking down at the boy.

“That you like her” Peng answered. “You’re obviously interested in her”

“What do you want me to do?” Jin asked rolling his eyes down at the boy. “That I ask her out?” The teenager asked seeing the kid shrug his shoulders. “She told me I’m like the brother she never had, how am I supposed to have a chance?”

“I don’t know”

“Look if a girl only sees you as a friend or a brother only, your chances are low. Its game over then” Jin complained crossing his arms. “You either try moving on with that or not”

Peng looked over the window on the door at the buildings that slowly passed on the window due to the train’s movement afterward he looked up at his cousin again. “At least she didn’t wish, you were her brother. That would be the worst way to be friend-zoned”

“From where do you even know that word?” Jin questioned raising his right eyebrow up as he put his eyes down on the child.

“From some strange cartoon grandma had played for me and her younger granddaughter about two teens that were in a love square with themselves and spent half of the season friendzoning each other” Peng explained making Jin look disturbed about the story.

“Gees that makes me feel even more depressed”

“If you two would be in their place it would be awful….but at the same time I would find it hilarious” Peng admitted grinning cheeky while Jin rolled his eyes annoyed.

“Please be quiet Peng, you’re not really helping me out”

“Why don’t you just talk to her like you did a billion times with your previous girlfriends?” Peng suggested. “You look like you had never asked a girl out in your life?”

“Yi’s is not just like all the other girls Peng. She’s….special, she’s….like a best friend to me, she’s like one of the bravest girls I have met, she’s clever and…..and...”

“Then tell her that. She sure will like to hear that”

“I don’t know if that’s going to work out” Jin mentioned making Peng groan.

“Where is the old Jin, that showed no shame in dating all girls in Shanghai?” Peng asked which got softly pushed away from the bigger cousin.

“The old Jin has died. The Jin standing in front of you is improved and he’s not going to do the same mistakes as the old one”

“Then what are you waiting for?” Peng asked.

“What do you want?” Jin questioned. “Do you want me to jump out of the window and follow Yi?”

“That would actually be cool”

“Sorry cuz, but I prefer to wait for tonight when she’s back. Until there I have time to figure out, how to talk with her. What do you think?”

“It’s going to work Jin, believe me,” The kid assured the older boy, which nodded in agreement.

  
  


On the cemetery, Yi was on her knees in front of a grave with hanzi characters and an image of a young man with glasses. Yi placed a mourning candle on the grave of her father, then took out from her shorts a small matchbox and took a match out of the box, passing the brown head on the side of it to set fire to it and she held it over the line of the candle to light it up. Yi shook her hand, causing the fire on the match to go out and she closed her eyes to stay in silence.

“Since my last visit, many things have changed in my life. Most of the things are good thought. My mother and Nai Nai are glad, that I started to be more present at home as usual when I used to leave the house to gather up enough money for the trip you had always been talking about taking me to. I’m also back on good terms with Peng and Jin, mostly Jin thought after your dead he and I haven’t been the same, then I started to withdraw myself away from society while Jin had gained popularity at the high school and our friendship has been set on a hanging thread, then we rarely talked with each other and whenever there was an occasion we just acted stupidly towards each other…. Sometimes I was the one starting it, otherwise, it was him, but I never understood why it was like that.” Yi said looking at the image of her father on the tombstone. Yi smiled a bit as she remembered of something else, she could tell right know and approached the grave closer. “I believe you were aware of that time I helped Everest back to Mount Everest. If I didn’t find Everest on my roof on that night and help him back to Nepal together with Jin and Peng we wouldn’t have reconciled. I wouldn’t have realized, that all the people that were around me were as important as you. I would still struggle to deal with all that happened after you were gone. I…...I don’t know, what would have been now”

Yi kept gazing at the grave of her father, then smiled a little and got up from the ground and stood there observing the small flame on the candlelight alone the grave of the man. Yi felt her smartphone vibrate in the pocket of her shorts, then she took it out to see it was a call from her mother, then she attended it.

“Hey mom, did you get my message?” Yi asked. “I’m here in front of my dad’s tombstone, are you coming too?….. Alright, see you soon” Yi pressed the red button on her display, then put her smartphone back in her pocket and looked one last time at the tombstone of her father and smiled. “Until next time,” She said leaving the grave of her father back crossing the path between the other graves from the cemetery.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of Jin's flashbacks are set in the past around the time he and Yi were around 10 and 11 years.

****Chapter** ** ****3** **

Around 10 pm Jin was inside his bedroom unpacking his clothes from his suitcase he had lied on the floor. He removed a few small piles of pants out of his suitcase and lied them on his bed, then took the next pile of shirts and placed them next to the pants. Jin yawned as he picked up the next pile, afterward he placed them on his bed again, followed by a bunch of socks. Jin yawned again this time covering his mouth, therefore he took out a pair of red sneakers out from his luggage and from under his bed he had two large drawers, which he pulled back one after each other, then took a look on the Interieur, which contained several pairs of shoes, a few half-full perfume bottles and a few white sheets hidden under the shoes. Jin puffed at the mess he had left in the drawers, then took out two pairs of shoes placing them on the ground next to each other.

Behind him on the door appeared a tall woman with a white blouse and black pants.

“I saw a few weeks ago into your drawers and I left them like that. Maybe you should see, if you could give any of the shoes away to your cousin or for donation” The mother suggested.

“Yeah sure mom, there are some that don’t even fit anymore,” Jin said picking out a pair of converse shoes, which were a little smaller than the other shoes. “And I might check these perfume bottles in there. I don’t remember having them in here”

“I go see if I find a bag for it” The mother of Jin announced walking away while the teen kept looking inside the drawer for more objects he wouldn’t need. He picked out a drawing, which had two stick figures drawn on it one of them wearing blue pants and a gray shirt while the other character wore a red t-shirt and knee-length jeans. The characters resembled a younger version of Jin and Yi, then Jin smiled as he realized that this drawing was done by Yi when she was younger. Jin turned the sheet around to see a note in capital letters on the corner of the sheet.

“ **Promise me, we will always be friends no matter what happens.”**

Under the comment with a dark blue color, there was a shorter sentence, which Jin recognized as its own handwriting when he was shorter due to the calligraphy be a little less legible than Yi’s. “I promise” He read on the sheet, then smiled at the sheet and sat down on the floor gazing at the drawing, then lied it on the bed and looked down at the drawer at the shoes he had in there. In there he came across a small envelope with a couple of photos, which he took out so see all of them, were from the past as he was a child.

“I think mom could need them on her photo album,” He told himself placing the envelope back on the bed, afterward he took a bottle of perfume out and a pair of shoes out then noted far behind the drawer was a small, beige-colored envelope under a shoe, where it had hanzi characters on it and Jin reached his arm into the drawer to grab the envelope then he saw the letter had written Yi’s name on it. Jin widened his eyes as he remembered what kind of letter it was and had a flashback of his childhood together with Yi.

  
  


_A younger Jin dressed in a tang suit consisting of white pants and a red shirt stood in front of the door of an apartment near his, then the boy knocked on the door waiting for someone to open the door. The door was opened by a young woman with a ponytail, which looked around, then moved her eyes down to see the young boy standing in front of her._

“ _Yi your friend Jin is here,” The mother told looking into the living room to see Yi sit in front of the dinner table along with her father and grandmother playing Mahjong._

“ _Hey, Jin!” Yi greeted excited to see her best friend, while the father waved at the young boy, that entered the living room heading to the table to meet his friend._

“ _Hey Jin, we were playing Mahjong together. Are you interested to play with us?” The father of Yi offered the boy, which shrugged his shoulders._

“ _Okay”_

“ _Can I and Jin go play outside, when we’re done with the game?” Yi asked gazing at her father, which nodded at the daughter._

“ _Of course you two can” The father answered. “As long as you two behave”_

“ _Of course dad” Yi answered holding her right arm behind her back crossing her middle and index finger together._

  
  


_After the match, the two kids ran out at the sidewalk in front of the apartment racing together passing between the people, that were walking against them upwards laughing together._

“ _The last arriving at the playground is a rotten fish” Jin exclaimed jokingly observing Yi follow him, soon she managed to overtake him quick and leave the boy far behind surprised.”Whoa”_

“ _Come on Jin or we won’t get the chance to make it to the big swing”_

“ _I know!” Jin hissed keeping up with the girl, then they got approximated to a small park, where a few kids were present running around playing tag and two women sat on a bench observing the kids run around._

_Yi stopped at the entrance of the park, waiting for Jin to arrive, afterward the two entered into the park and Jin ran at the swings stopping in front of a blue and black-colored nest swing, then held it on the other side waiting for Yi to climb up at the chair and take a sit._

_Jin got up at the swing, then placed his right foot on the floor pushing himself and Yi forwards on the swing, then Jin stood on the swing as the nest swung back, then he pumped forward swinging forward with the swing. He watched Yi lean her back on his legs enjoying the wind, that went on her face due to the swinging._

  
  


  
  


_The two friends walked home together home from school chatting._

“ _My aunt comes to visit us today with Peng, my little cousin” Jin mentioned. “You have met him already, right?”_

“ _Oh yeah, I remember him” Yi responded. “He found last time my dad’s violin in its case and thought it was a guitar and tried to play on it”_

“ _Ah, I remember your dad told me that once” Jin mentioned starting to laugh. “Too bad I wasn’t there”_

“ _It was funny, really” Yi mentioned walking beside Jin on the sidewalk, soon approaching the entrance to their apartment. “Are you going to do your homework right now?” Yi asked making Jin shrug his shoulders._

“ _Maybe a little later. Maybe Peng wants me to play with him”_

“ _Hey we could play together with him” The raven-haired girl suggested, then Jin thought about her offer and nodded._

“ _Yeah, I could ask him” The boy answered. “He sure will like the idea”_

“ _Great, will you call me or should I pass by?”_

“ _I pass by” Jin answered opening the door for the two to enter into the building._

  
  


_Later in the evening, Jin appeared on the roof together with the little boy Peng in his arms entering through the exit at the roof._

“ _Boy, you know I can’t always carry you stairs up. Your legs are healthy” Jin told his little cousin placing him on the ground, then closed the door behind him looking around to see Yi pull out from the shack from her father an empty vegetable box along the ground passing by the boys, then she stopped._

“ _Hey guys….and hey Peng, how are you?” Yi asked passing her hand over the short hair of the four-year-old. “Remember me?”_

“ _That’s Yi, the girl we played with once last time, remember?” Jin questioned the boy, which nodded a little shyly around the girl._

“ _Hey I’ve got a ball in there, maybe we could play all basketball together. You’re interested?” Yi offered the boy, which rolled his eyes up at the older cousin, which nodded at the child and Peng looked at Yi nodding shortly._

“ _Good I will get the ball, in the meanwhile Jin can place the box somewhere up as the basket” Yi suggested earning a nod from the friend._

“ _Of course” Jin answered picking up the box, bringing it to the other side of the roof placing it on a cement platform, from where they could see the entire city._

_Yi walked out from the shack with an orange basketball, then she showed it to Peng, which had his hand inside his mouth and Yi went down on her knees to have eye contact with the boy._

“ _You have to play like that. You hit with the ball like this on the ground, then you have to run with the ball while hitting on the floor like this” Yi explained the boy getting up on her feet and run around the boy, which observed her afterward Yi ran towards Jin, which smirked and extended his arms wide to protect the goal from the girl._

“ _My opponent, which in this case is Jin has to protect the basket, so I won't score any point” Yi mentioned trying to pass beside Jin, who moved closer to the girl blocking her. “There’s also this if you stop you gotta pass your ball to one of your group, cause you’re not allowed to run again after you stop, but since we’re only three, we skip that rule and play one by one,” Yi told Jin’s cousin, then watched Jin jump against her and Yi threw the ball up in the air and Jin looked up in the air and held his arm up in the air along with Yi trying to catch the ball, then it hit both of their hand and it felt down on the ground jumping at Peng’s feet._

“ _Come try it out” Yi suggested. “We promise we won’t make it hard”_

“ _Or better you two against me” Jin suggested making Yi giggle._

“ _Are you sure you can take us?” Yi asked unsure about the idea of the boy._

“ _We’ll see,” Jin said taking the ball from the feet of his cousin, then started to dribble away from Yi, followed by Peng which followed slowly the two friends at the platform, where the goal had been marked. Jin stopped and saw Yi standing in front of him blocking the sight to the box, then Jin threw the ball over Yi’s head and the ball hit the side of the box and fell down on the ground, then Peng picked the ball and looked up at Yi, which stood in front of Jin blocking him away from the cousin._

“ _Try it out Peng,” Yi asked the boy, which looked at the box and threw the ball at the box, which passed over the box landing on the platform rolling a little forward stopping nearly at the edge of the roof._

“ _I’m going to get it” Yi warned placing one leg on the roof, then Jin pulled the girl by her belly back, tripping on his feet falling along with the girl on the ground. “Hey!”_

“ _Not so fast” Jin mentioned jokingly, then got hit by Yi’s elbow on his chest. “Hey!”_

“ _Maybe you should have let me go” Yi mentioned with a smirk, which Jin copied._

“ _You really seem to enjoy to banter around with me, hein?” Jin asked furrowing his eyebrows, watching Yi chuckle._

“ _That’s what best friends do all the time”_

“ _Well we’re the only ones so far I know” Jin mentioned seeing Yi shake her head playfully. Yi noted above Jin’s hair Peng standing on the platform running towards the ball, that lied on the edge of it setting Yi in panic._

“ _Your cousin!” Yi shouted shrieking Jin, which saw Peng grab the ball, then freeze as he looked down at the deep._

“ _Peng wait!” Jin shouted jumping up at the platform along with Yi, then Peng looked back at Jin and stepped in midair, shrieking as he lost his equilibrium and Jin jumped in the air landing on his belly sliding close to the edge to catch Peng by his arm._

“ _Yi help me!” Jin cried, then Yi crawled beside Jin trying to reach to Peng’s other hand with hers. “Take his hand, I’ll try to reach his other hand” Jin suggested watching Yi grab Peng’s arm, holding them close to Jin’s. “Got it?”_

“ _Yes!” Yi yelped trying to pull the rather chubby boy up, with difficulty._

“ _Hold on Peng” Jin warned trying to grab the other hand to pull him up, while he shook with his legs in panic. “Calm down Peng, your big cousin has got you” Jin tried to comfort the boy. “Yi, do you think you can hold Peng on the other hand, while I try to pull him by his back?”_

“ _I’ll try” Yi answered grabbing Peng’s other arm as Jin slowly reached it to her hands._

“ _Don’t worry Peng, everything will be okay” Jin mentioned to comfort the boy, then placed his arms by the waist of the boy. “Hold still” Jin ordered the boy trying to pull him up. Jin warped his face as he wasn’t able to pull the boy, then he placed his left hand back on Peng’s arm and the right arm on the edge of the platform, slowly placing his right leg next to the platform leaning down with his stomach on the ground and placed his hand back on the back of the boy, followed by the other and tried to pull the boy up along with Yi, slowly managing to get the boy up._

“ _Keep going, Yi!” Jin cheered for the girl._

_Back at the other side of the room the door was shut open and the father of Yi had appeared looking out, then he stared in shock as he saw Jin and Yi on the edge of the roof with Peng._

“ _Yi, Jin!” The father shouted running towards the platform._

“ _Daddy, we need help!” Yi shouted watching her father appear and pull Yi away from the edge and the two had managed to pull Peng up at the roof with the help of Jin pushing Peng from his body. Jin suddenly lost his balance on the right side of his leg and he waved with his arms like a bird trying to equilibrate._

“ _Jin, watch out!” Yi screamed in shock and her father approached quickly at the boy and managed to catch him by his shoe, which unluckily slipped off from the foot._

“ _No!” The father shouted seeing the boy fall down hit with his elbow on a bamboo pole of a framework that stood beside the building slowing him down and crashing with his back on the metal sheets forming a roof for the levels under it. “Jin?”_

“ _Daddy, is Jin okay?” Yi asked looking down at the roof, where the boy lied with a painful expression on his face._

“ _Go bring Peng out of here, I’m going down at him” The father mentioned._

“ _But….”_

“ _Please don’t worry about Jin. He will be okay” The father assured caressing the girl on the face._

  
  


  
  


_Jin sat on his bed looking at his gypsum around his arm filled with names and several little drawings made with felt-tip pens. Jin looked at his night table, where he had his school case and he opened it taking out a blue pencil, afterward looked at his plaster to look for a free spot to drabble something in it._

_Someone knocked on the door, then Jin looked at the exit of his room to see his friend Yi on the door with a sheet on her hand._

“ _Hey Yi” Jin greeted the girl, that entered into his room slowly and stopped in front of the boy._

“ _Are you angry at me?” Yi asked making Jin furrow his eyebrows in confusion._

“ _Huh, why should I be angry at you?”_

“ _Well… because of your arm” Yi mentioned. Jin shook his head, then tapped with his good arm on the bed signaling the girl to sit down on the bed, which the girl did._

“ _It was an accident. I’m the one, who lost the balance”_

“ _I thought on that day, that you had died” Yi confessed getting sad about it, then Jin placed his hand on Yi’s to comfort her._

“ _I know and I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make you feel bad, but I’m great now. I just have this gypsum around my arm for the next weeks. I’ll be fine”_

“ _That sounds good” Yi mentioned making Jin smile and roll his eyes down, then see his pencil he had taken out before from his suitcase._

“ _Would you like to sign your name on the gypsum?” Jin asked gazing at the girl, which looked back at the face of the boy. “Here this spot here is free” Yi smiled at the boy and grabbed the pencil, then used it to write down her name on the plaster._

“ _Cool,” Jin mentioned watching Yi look up at the boy’s brown eyes smiling, making him smile courteously at her. Yi held her sheet up looking at it, then she showed it to the friend, which took a glance at it. “What is that?”_

“ _It’s a gift for you,” Yi said watching Jin grab the sheet to look at it and recognize himself and Yi as stick figurines on it._

“ _Cool,” Jin complimented it, turning the sheet around to see Yi’s message._

“ **Promise me, we will always be friends no matter what happens.”**

 _Jin smiled and picked up the pencil of Yi to write down on the sentence the words_ **“I promise”**

“ _Yi no matter what happens, whether it's my fault, your fault or anything else, that could prejudice our friendship. There is no way our friendship will be broken. Never. I will always be your best friend in the good and the bad times._ _And you know why?” Jin asked making Yi shake her head. “Because we’ve been the best friends since the preschool. We’re neighbors and we have always been in good terms just like brother and sister.”_

“ _I really wish I had you like my brother”_

“ _Me too,” Jin said with a chuckle, making Yi smile excited and place her arms around him for an embrace,_ _making Jin chuckle and wrap his one free arm around her back. “Sorry, I only work with this arm at the moment” He mentioned making Yi laugh._

_Jin knocked on the door, then it opened back and he met Yi’s mother.  
“Morning Jin, are you excited for your first day in high school?”  
“A little nervous about the new people and teachers but it’s not gonna be a big deal,”  
“You two will do fine. You’re both together there” Yi’s mother mentioned earning a nod from the preteen.  
“Yes and this time we’re not in the same class again, we will see each other in the breaks only”  
“Well at least that“  
Yi walked out of her bedroom carrying her backpack with her and passed beside her mother.  
“I had forgotten the case in my room” Yi mentioned. “Did dad already leave?”  
“I think he went to get something from the basement”  
“Okay, can you tell dad goodbye from me? “ Yi asked earning a nod from her mother, afterward Yi gave her mother a peck on her cheek, then gazed up at the face of the friend. “Shall we go?”  
Jin nodded and followed the girl the stairway down, then on the way they crossed Yi’s father and Yi gave the man a hug.  
“Have a great day darling” The father wished hugging the girl tightly making Jin smile at the sight of it. “I will miss you a lot”  
“Me too dad” Yi confessed smiling at the man, then she ran the stairs down, then Jin walked the stairs down waving at his friend’s dad and the man grabbed Jin by the shoulder stopping him.  
“Uh did I do something wrong?” Jin asked looking at the man.  
“No, I just wanted to ask you to do me a favor”  
“Sure, what is it?”  
“Will you make sure Yi gets to see this letter at her 16th birthday?” The man asked shoving his arm into the gray dress jacket taking out a beige envelope with Yi’s name on it. Jin looked at the envelope a little bewildered then he took the envelope and put it in his backpack.  
“Is it so special that I need to keep it?” Jin asked earning a nod from the man.  
“Yes, I think it’s the most suitable moment. It was for me though”  
“Alright, I’ll pass it to her on her 16th birthday, into her locker or her bedroom. I’ll see that in the future” Jin explained earning a nod from the man.  
“Thank you, Jin. You’re a good boy” Yi’s father pointed out at the boy, which smiled a little abashed.  
“I guess......and I think I should be going. Yi is down waiting for me” Jin noted seeing the father nod.  
“And.....Take good care of Yi,” The father said with a quiet tune confusing Jin a little.  
“Uh....of course!” Jin responded avoiding the strange comment of Yi’s father, then he ran downstairs meeting Yi on the outside, which had been waiting for the friend.  
“What took you so long?” Yi questioned the friend.  
“He....uhm....wanted to ask me if I could take care of you...sort of...I didn’t quite get it” Jin explained the girl which tilt her head at his answer.  
“Okay, why would he say that?”  
“I don’t know. I didn’t insist cause we were running out of time” Jin added earning a nod from the friend._

  
  


_In the afternoon after school Yi and Jin had arrived at the door of Yi’s family’s apartment and Yi opened the door to encounter her mother sitting on the couch next to Nai Nai and two other family members from Yi’s family, then Yi stopped and looked up at Jin confused, who also watched all the family members feeling down for some reason._

“ _What’s going on?” Jin asked looking at Yi, which shrugged her shoulders, then entered along with Yi into the living room to see Yi’s mother holding her hands in front of her face sobbing, making Yi look sad, while Jin behind her gulped worried about the circumstances._

“ _M...mom?”_ _Yi asked slowly placing her hand on the mother’s hands. “What’s going on?” The mother looked up at her daughter with watery eyes, making Yi swallow hard, concerned about her mother._

“ _Your father is gone”_ _The mother whimpered turning Yi a little sad while Jin got shocked about the message._

“ _Gone?” Yi asked bewildered. “How do you mean gone?”_ _Yi asked not understanding her mother’s message, then the mother broke down in more tears about the confession, then Yi looked at the other family members, which were as sad too about the situation._

“ _Your father passed away”_ _The grandmother from the paternal side noticed shocking Yi, which stepped back._

“ _What?” Yi asked. “No, this can’t be true….why…..what happened?”_

“ _It’s a complicated story…...your father….well….” The grandfather tried to explain, but his wife signaled him with her hand to stop, then glanced at her granddaughter._

“ _Your father had a heart attack and…..he couldn’t make it”_

“ _No, this…...this is not true….but he was alright, he…..no!” Yi cried falling down on her knees weeping. Jin watched Yi on the ground depressed about, what she had just heard from her family and he went down on the floor placing his hands on her shoulders, then she got up from the floor running out of her apartment leaving everyone back._

“ _Yi wait!”_ _Jin shouted wanting to go behind her but was stopped by Yi’s mother._

“ _It’s okay Jin….She’s…..going to be alright” The mother said in sobs, watching Jin sank his head down in sadness, then he felt how the mother placed her arms around him as if she was his son, followed by the boy to dig his face on her arm, starting to whimper too._

  
  


Jin sat on his bed placing the drawing next to the photos he had found before under his bed, then sighed at his memories from the past and passed his hand through his hair then kept his eyes on the stuff he had on his bed. 

“Maybe it should have been better, if I had mentioned Yi about her father’s behavior” Jin vouched picking the photos inside the envelope, then spread them on the bed looking at all the images taken in his childhood. One of them was an image of Jin and Yi on their first school day at the high school, which was taken by a school photographer. Jin had placed his arm behind Yi’s back while she had hers around him and both were smiling happily at the fourth wall, making Jin smile soft remembering the good days his and Yi’s friendship were over the top.

“ _No matter what happens, whether it’s my fault, your fault or anything else, that could prejudice our friendship. There is no way our friendship will be broken. Never. I will always be your best friend in the good and the bad times,”_ Jin’s quote from his younger self ran through his mind, making the boy furrow his eyebrows making a serious face and take out his smartphone entering into the telephone list, sliding down to the end to encounter Yi’s name, afterward he pressed on it to establish a call with her.

“ _Jin?”_

“Hey Yi, can you meet me up at the roof?” Jin asked on the phone. “I need to talk to you”

“ _Sure, right now?”_

“If possible” He answered. “See you there” He responded taking his phone off his ear, seeing the background switch back to his home screen, which was an image of a red car. “It will go fine, don’t worry Jin,” Jin said to himself getting up from the bed, then tripping on his suitcase as he was about to run towards the door, landing on the ground. Jin growled, therefore he got up on his feet again and left his bedroom leaving everything he found on the bed.


	4. Chapter 4

****Chapter** ** ****4** **

Jin was leaning with his arms on the top of the wall of the roof looking up at the billboards attached to the side of the buildings around the building where he was on top off. Behind him Yi came from the exit to the roof, walking towards the raven-haired boy and stopped beside him.

“Good evening” Yi greeted looking at Jin, which glanced at her smiling shortly. “Did something happen?”

“No” Jin responded. “I…..remembered before about the day we found out your father had died.”

“Oh…...why?” Yi asked seeing Jin shrug his shoulders.

“Remember that day, when you saw your dad on the stairs before we left for school?”

“Sure”

“And remember, when I came a little later and explained to you, that he had said something about, that I should take care of you?”

“Yes…..wait, you’re not thinking about, that he killed himself or something?” Yi asked gazing seriously at the friend. “My grandparents said, it was a heart attack”

“I know, but I still don’t get it why he said that on the same day as he died. It’s like he knew he was going to die”

“Maybe that was a coincidence?” Yi questioned Jin. “Or he knew it was going to happen and…..he wanted to make sure I would be alright?”

“But why did he give me that envelope for you?” Jin questioned himself, making Yi tilt her head.

“What envelope?”

“This…..oh I’ve forgot it down in my room” Jin mentioned slapping himself on the head. “Sorry”

“It’s alright, what’s with the envelope”

“He gave me that envelope and told me to give it to you when you get sixteen, but I forgot it and I just found it down in the drawers of my bed”

“Oh okay and what’s in the letter?”

“I don’t know, it’s meant for you to open, not me”

“I’m kinda curious. What could the letter be?” Yi questioned looking at Jin, which gazed down at the streets neutrally, then Yi placed her hand on his shoulder looking at the boy. “Are you alright?”

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this earlier” Jin apologized turning around to look at the girl. “I preferred to tell you this, because I didn’t want you to get angry at me if you would found this out. Although it’s my fault I’ve forgotten about the envelope”

“It’s okay Jin, I still can see that envelope. It doesn’t matter, if it is on my birthday or any other day” Yi mentioned making Jin smile.

“Also I didn’t tell you how I felt on that day after his dad and the fact he had given me the envelope. You were devastated on that day and I thought if I would have told you that you would get mad at me”

“You did the right thing. You just wanted to spare me from more pain”

“Yeah I can’t imagine how hard it was for you to lose a family member. The pain you have felt. It sure was more painful than the pain I got from seeing my little sis heartbroken” The Chinese-descendant boy mentioned looking at Yi, which was looking along with him at the buildings in front of them.

“You won’t believe how awful it felt back in time”

“Really bad” Jin commented observing Yi smile a little at his agreement. Jin tapped with his fingers on the wall as the two stood there now in quiet silence, the only thing they could hear were the cars down the street. Jin rolled his eyes at the teenager, then spoke at her again. “You know you can count on me”

“I know” Yi answered looking at the boy, which smiled gently at the girl. “Thank you” Yi responded gazing at the boy, which had his eyes glued on the girl slowly turning a little enamored at looking at her, same Yi’s lips had turned up as she was also gazing at the boy a little lovelier as before, then Jin slowly leaned his head forward at the girl puckering the lips, while Yi’s eyes widened as she saw, what her best friend was about to do, afterward she closed her eyes leaning her face closer to the boy.

“Hey guys!” Shouted a voice shrieking the two, which back off from their move and looked at the other side of the roof to see Peng. “Did I interrupt something?”

“Uhm…...no?” Yi answered unsure looking at Jin, which shrugged his shoulder. “Come out” Yi called the boy and Jin sighed disappointed at the unsuccessful first kiss.

“How you’re doing cuz?” Jin asked as if nothing had happened before.

“There was an envelope addressed on us three from Mr. Burnish” Peng told the two teens holding it up at the two.

“Oh cool” Yi mentioned then the child handed the envelope out to the girl, which opened the envelope and looked at it along with Jin.

“Who’s Miss Burnish?” Jin asked squinting his eyes at the letters at the begin of the letter, seeing Yi shrug her shoulders.

“Maybe he has a daughter?” Yi replied unsure looking at the tall boy.

“ _Dear Yi, Jin and Peng. You don’t know anything about you me, but I know a lot about you. My older brother used to talk about you three and the time you helped out bring the yeti back to Mount Everest. Yes, I know about Everest, but this secret is well guarded by us. You don’t have to worry about it. With this letter, I wanted to inform you, that Mr. Burnish has unfortunately passed away last week and I needed to contact you three to pass by the Burnish Industries here in Shanghai. It’s about his last will and I was hoping you three could help me” Jin read aloud, then looked at the two around him, which were a little sad at the news they just heard._

“I can’t believe Mr. Burnish died” Peng mentioned followed by Yi pet his shoulder.

“He didn’t seem like the youngest thought” Jin mentioned. “He spent almost his whole life trying to find a yeti to prove, that they existed”

“Yeah”

“It’s been a long while, that we have passed by them,” Yi mentioned. “They had changed everything. Since Burnish had allowed Everest to go back home he had invested his fortune to turn it into a plant to take care of species close to extinct and other animals, that were found and brought to them”

“The chuckling Miniature Kangaroos were the cutest” Peng mentioned smiling as he thought about them.

“They made me think at some point at some criminals, that get sent into mental institutions in some movies?”

“Like that crazy lady from the dalmatian movie?” Peng asked earning a nod from his older cousin.

“Hey I know tomorrow is Saturday, but why don’t we pass by the Burnish industries and see, if we can find Miss Burnish or anyone, that could help us find her?” Yi suggested the boys.

“Yes, please I want to see those Kangaroos again!” Peng shouted jumping up and down excited. Jin rolled his eyes in amusement at the little boy and nodded.

“I’m in” Jin agreed making Yi smile.

“Okay boys, tomorrow at 10 am we meet down in front of our building. Is this good?” Yi suggested earning a nod from the two boys. “Great”

“So this means, we should better go to bed in the next minutes” Peng mentioned seeing Jin fondle Peng’s hair playfully.

“I and Yi probably need it mostly” Jin mentioned watching Yi hold her hand in front of her mouth to yawn. “See?”

“Oh yeah I really should go to bed,”

“Yes, we come later down too” Jin mentioned and Yi embraced both boys, then moved away towards the entrance to the building.

“G’Night boys”

“Good night Yi” Both boys said in a chorus, seeing the girl disappear into the building.

“What were you two doing up here?” Peng asked making Jin groan and turn his back to the boy. “Did you get somewhere?”

“We nearly kissed, but you showed up and it didn’t happen”

“Oh….right” Peng answered embarrassed. “Sorry”

“It doesn’t matter now, maybe it wasn’t the right time though,” Jin said looking down at the streets, where fewer cars were passing by.

“There is still tomorrow and other days. You will make it Jin”

“I’m just more worried about if she reciprocates it or not”

“But she was going to kiss you Jin. She likes you, why else would she do that?”

“As I was leaning in, you saw she was going to kiss me?”

“I…..I don’t know, I just saw you two together jumping as I got in. I didn’t note, what she was doing or you” Peng mentioned making Jin sigh.

“Maybe I don’t have a chance with her anymore. I mean did you see how I was during the time we acted towards each other as we were on bad terms?”

“Uh self-absorbed?”

“No, not that. The girl thing”

“Oh the many girls you dated?” Peng asked earning a nod from Jin. “Are you dating anyone?”

“No, I haven’t since our trip to the Himalaya. I had been single for the entire school year”

“Cool, Yi has been single her entire life” Peng mentioned earning a glare from the cousin. “Uh sorry”

“I think with my past she won’t probably even want to have anything with me. Who would love a guy, that had many chicks in his life and two or three per day?”

“You were dating chicks?” Peng asked starting to chuckle, then Jin warped his face realizing Peng was just a child and didn’t understand certain slangs used by older people.

“Yeah kinda….” Jin added hoping Peng would forget about this.

“But that’s in the past Jin, you have to look for the future. Just let the past behind you and focus on the future. You’re an amazing guy, you’re Yi’s best friend and you have always been the best friends since the preschool. She knows you very well and she knows you’re not the worst guy in the world” Peng reminded his cousin, which got a smile on his face due to the boy’s recital.

“Well, you’re right. I’ve got more chances” Jin admitted looking down at his cousin. “I will wait for the perfect moment or I’ll organize something for her and in the end, I’ll confess to her how much she means to me”

“Yes that sounds good” Peng confirmed, then received a playful slap on his back from Jin.

“You’re the best Peng, thank you” Jin thanked the boy, which embraced his cousin happily, that he could help him out.

  
  


  
  


The next morning the trio had got reunited and made their way to the other side of Shanghai to visit the enclosure of the Burnish Industries, which had now a new paint all over the building and the walls around the building had graffiti sketches of various types of animals all over it. Next to the entrance Yi appeared along with Jin and Peng walking at the entrance, which wasn’t a big, electronic fence, but a barrier system with a guard at the entrance.

Yi approached the cabin with the guard in it, which was reading a newspaper, then the girl knocked on the glass to get his attention and the man looked out at the three kids and smiled.

“Hi is Miss Burnish here?” Yi asked, then the man pushed the gap of the window aside to be able to speak with the girl.

“Good morning, you three must be Jin, Peng and Yi, right?” The man asked earning a nod from the group. “Great, you can pass. I will inform them in the inside”  
“Thank you”

The three raven-haired friends passed beside the barrier walking the road up to the entrance of the building, then the slide door opened by itself letting the group enter into the small hall, where they met a female receptionist.

“Miss Burnish will see you in a moment” The receptionist warned earning a nod from the girl, which stood along with the boys in the middle of the room.

“She’s new” Peng mentioned making Yi shrug her shoulders.

“I think there are more people working for the reception or anywhere else most of the times,” Yi said, then walked to the waiting area, where a few chairs stood for the visitors and over on the wall were paintings of mythical creatures, including a white one resembling a yeti, but not like the ones she has seen once back at Mount Everest. Jin approached the girl standing next to her admiring the images too, then looked at her, who had her eyes still on the paintings.

“They’re wonderful”

“You’re right” The boy agreed glancing at them, but still he rolled his eyes at the girl again, which noted and chuckled about it.

“Are you okay?” Yi asked, then Jin shook his head as he realized he had got distracted by the girl.

“Sorry, I was distracted” Jin apologized a little abashed, then the two looked back as a woman around the 60th appeared coming from a corridor in a white coat.

“Yi, Jin and Peng. I’m happy to meet you” The woman announced walking towards Peng, which smiled at the woman. “You must be Peng?” The woman asked earning a nod from the boy.

“Hi Miss Burnish” Yi greeted approaching the woman along with Jin.

“Oh and you’ must be Yi” The woman guessed holding her hand out for the teenage girl.  
“Exactly and this is Jin, which you would probably have guessed as next” Yi introduced to the woman earning a chuckle from the adult.

“Wow, I always thought I was the one with the smaller hands” The woman mentioned holding her hands over Yi’s small hands.

“Oh,” Jin mentioned curious at the woman’s discovery.

“And this is Jin obviously,” The woman mentioned giving Jin her hand earning a charming smile from the boy. “Oh you would be a good fit for my granddaughter” The woman said jokingly, making Jin grin embarrassed.

“Yes, he’s quite nice,” Yi mentioned looking at Jin, which smiled at Yi’s compliment.

“Yes, but I’m kind of not interested in meeting a girl right now,” Jin said looking at Yi, which observed the woman walk around the three.

“If you don’t mind please follow me” Miss Burnish questioned the trio, which walked behind the woman to a door, then the door slide to the side automatically and they entered into a long corridor with a large outlet zone on the sides closed on the side with large glass windows.

“This is the floor, where we keep the Australian hares. Three months ago the mother Bonnie and the father Stew had a bunch of babies and to avoid more multiplication between them again, we have the father in the other cage.

“Oh” The trio said following the woman into the next section of the corridor, meeting at one side of the floor a enclosure with a fully dark-red fox sitting on the ground licking itself under his legs while leaned to the wall lied another fox with the same fur color as the other fox, but it was a vixen, that had in front of her legs three kits with their snouts under her belly all drinking milk.

“Aww look at it” Yi mentioned as she saw the mother feeding her cubs, then Jin approached the glass to observe it.

“Very adorable” Jin mentioned, then saw the male fox looking at him earning a smile from the Chinese boy.

“Those are Tomatofoxes. Those are the last two of their species, the male one has been found in Germany and it got sent to us to see if it would be possible for them to mate, which luckily worked.

“What are their names?” Peng asked.

“The male one is called Nate and the female is Layla, named after an Italian actress,” Miss Burnish explained looking down at Jin, which watched the male fox approach the glass.

“Hey can you tell me, what does the fox say?” Jin asked, then the fox opened his mouth to release a short fox scream causing Jin to jump back and fall on the ground, making Peng and Yi laugh.

“They do sound like regular foxes, right?” Peng asked looking at Miss Burnish, which nodded.

“The foxes you see in there are a little shorter than the usual red fox. Most of the characteristics are the same”

“They look very lovable” Yi mentioned entering into the next section followed by Peng and Jin, which joined after getting away from the fox enclosure.

“The animals we encounter here are full of surprises” Jin mentioned glancing at the next enclosure with a rare orangutan sitting on a large rock gazing around its space.

“Rambe is probably wondering, where his younger brother is,” Miss Burnish mentioned. “We had taken him out of the enclosure, cause he seemed sick and called the vet to check him out”

“Poor little guy” Peng mentioned looking at the animal inside the room.

“He will do his best to help the brother out” Miss Burnish mentioned turning left walking to an elevator, then pressed on the arrow opening the door of the elevator, then all entered into it to head up to the office along with the woman.

The elevator reached the third floor and the kids followed the woman into the corridor turning left in the end of the corridor approaching the office, which used to belong to Mr. Burnish.

“Would any of you like a cup of tea or coffee?” The woman offered watching all three shake their heads.

“No thank you” The trio responded and the gray-haired woman walked behind the desk, that used to belong to her older brother and sat down on the chair opening the drawer beside the table.

“A notary had passed by the office to hand me out Burnish’s testament and I’ve read it and I thought you should take a look at it too” The woman mentioned while taking out a folded letter from the drawer, then held it out at the trio, then they exchanged looks with the other and Jin took the sheet from the woman and opened it to look at the writing along with Yi and Peng.

“I see your name down there Yi” Peng mentioned pointing with his index finger on the sheet, then Jin slide his finger down to Peng’s to see one of the points on the testament of their old friend.

“I hereby give Yi out my precious Chow Chow mixed breed Kai the custody,”

“Oh cool, you got your own dog Yi” Peng mentioned with a smile while Yi smiled a little hesitant at the idea.

“Oh I don’t know, what my parents are going to say to this” Yi said looking at the boys.

“Maybe Nai Nai has time to take care of him?” Peng suggested looking at Yi and Jin.

“You know owning a pet brings a lot of responsibility” Jin warned the young boy.

“Yeah I guess you’re right,” Peng said watching Jin smirk at his cousin’s confession, then continued to read the letter.

“Jin has the honor to take home one of Duchess’ grandchildren home or two. Maybe Peng or your girlfriend have an interest in one,”

“What girlfriend is he talking about?” Peng asked watching Jin and Yi glance at each other, then avoid eye contact from each other again from embarrassment.

“Maybe he meant someone else?” Yi added while Jin shrugged his shoulders.

“Oh maybe he meant girl friend or I think he never asked anyone of you about it or maybe he believed you two were together for some reason” Miss Burnish suggested watching Yi shrug her shoulders.

“I don’t remember having acted as a girlfriend around Mr. Burnish nor did Jin the male role”

“Maybe because you were last time running behind Yi, because she scared you with one of the whooping snake dummies?” Peng recalled out from their last visit.

“I don’t know what me running behind her had to do with it, but I think it doesn’t matter now” The tall boy stated following the next sentence of the testament of the brother of Miss Burnish. “For Peng, I’ve got something special. My good old adventure belt I have used on many of my hiking adventures including my last one at the Mount Everest for any adventure you would like to go when you’re old enough”

“That sounds awesome” Peng mentioned seeing Jin raising his left eyebrow up as he continued reading the letter.

“Am I reading the next part right or am I....uh...?” Jin asked holding it closer to his face, then Yi grabbed the letter by the side and Jin left it to the girl, which searched on the sheet, where Jin had stopped afterward he pointed at the sentence he had read before.

“My very last wish I would want to have my ashes scattered up at Mount Everest, one of the most meaningful places I have ever been on earth. I would really appreciate it if Yi, Jin and Peng would do me this very last favor,” Yi read it out loud to the others.

“That’s…..strange?” Peng stated unsure about what he should say in this case.

“He wants us to go all way to Nepal again?” Jin gasped at the request of the late man. “It’s over a thousand miles away and at that time we weren’t alone. We were with Everest”

“But you had at the begin of the trip your phone Jin. Just this time you won’t lose it like last time” Peng mentioned making the cousin shake his head.

“I didn’t lose it, I exchanged it with the boat, so I could find you and Yi. Otherwise, I would never have made it, if I didn’t do that”

“This time is easier Jin, there are no bad guys going behind us nor do he have the need to have to hide Everest from everybody,”

“I know Peng, but we only did that trip once and we had to go the different way. We have to take different trains and other transportation vehicles across China. All that costs money and where are you going to get that money?”

“Maybe I can help you out?” Miss Burnish suggested.

“It’s appreciated, but we don’t need it” Jin mentioned. “I’m sorry Peng, but it’s complicated for us three to go there”

“But it’s Mr. Burnish’s last wish”

“Jin is kind of right Peng, you know we would like to do this last favor for Mr. Burnish, but the current circumstances don’t allow us to do so,” Yi said placing her hands on Peng’s shoulder.

“But it’s not fair. He offered us his dog and some of his mouses. We can’t just take it without promising him his last wish” Peng complained hugging Yi disappointed about their choice.

“I know Peng, I’m not fond of this either” Jin enunciated bending his legs down to have eye contact with the raven-haired child, then he placed his left hand on his shoulder, then it got slapped away by the boy, that afterward covered his face starting to sob. Jin sighed, then looked at Miss Burnish, which was also a little sad about the decision of the group, then Jin gazed at Yi, which was looking at Peng patting him slowly on the back.

“Was it wrong from me?” Jin asked glancing at Yi, which shrugged her shoulders.

“You’re right at some point, otherwise it’s sad that we can’t do that” Yi attuned.

“Maybe I should let you three go” Miss Burnish announced getting up from the chair. “But if you change your mind, I’m here” The gray-haired woman assured earning a nod from Jin, which looked back at Yi, which embraced Peng to soothe him.


	5. Chapter 5

****Chapter** ** ****5** **

The next Monday morning Jin entered into the kitchen of his parents' house already dressed in his usual day outfit to find in the middle of the dinner tablet a plate with a large pile of scallion pancakes with a note in front of the pancakes in blue ink. Jin took two plates out of the counter leaned on the wall and placed them in front of the chair, then took from the drawer behind him two pairs of chopsticks, then placed them on the table and sat down on his chair picking out with his chopsticks one pancake onto his plate, then rolled it together and looked at the note his mother left.

“ _I’m with Mrs. Ping. Be back in two hours”_

Jin rolled his pancake together then took it with his hand to take a bite of it, then looked at the empty chair beside him, where his younger cousin is supposed to seat. Jin swallowed down the bit of his food, then got up from his chair walking across the living room to a room, where the guest room was for visitors with the door wide open.

“Wake up sleepyhead,” Jin said into the darkroom, waiting for him to respond, but he didn’t hear anything.

Jin pressed on the light switch to turn the light on to see the bed was covered and Peng was nowhere to be seen. 

“Okay?” Jin said to himself turning the light off again walking back passing by his room, then he wide his eyes as he remembered something and entered into the room walking to his bed, where on the night table he had his alarm clock and under it lied a blank sheet.

“Where did I leave that letter again?” Jin asked himself while passing his hand behind his neck looking around his room, then he spotted on his desk across the room the envelope lying on the table, then Jin smiled and walked up to the table and grabbed the envelope to look at it. On the table he had left a sheet with a few sentences on it, then he sat down on the chair to glance at the sentences, that were written by him.

“ **It only took me seconds to realize I was into you”**

Jin shook his head as he read the first sentence of the sheet, that lied in front of his nose.

“ _Look Jin, what he’s doing to that cat” A thirteen-year-old Yi spoke stopping Jin from continuing to walk as she showed Jin another boy around their age pulling on the cat’s tail, while the second one held the cat by its legs causing it to whine in pain._

“ _Why is no one doing anything?” Jin asked looking around to see a few other students present, but no one showing any interest, in what was happening._

“ _We gotta help the cat,” Yi told Jin, which shook his head._

“ _No, we’re going to call a teacher. It’s easier” Jin mentioned watching Yi frown and walk towards the two pre-teens. “Yi, no!” The raven-haired boy ordered watching Yi tramp toward the two boys, then she pushed one of the boys, which held the cat on its legs away making him fall down and pulling the cat down behind him. The cat managed to remove one of his paws out of his hands and hit the boy on his face scratching him._

“ _Ouch!”_

“ _Hey who do you think you are?” The second boy asked looking angrily at Yi._

“ _You can’t treat animals like that” Yi mentioned crossing her arms. “They can feel the pain, didn’t you hear the cat crying?”_

“ _Who says that?” The boy asked. “The cat?”_

“ _He was crying”_

“ _He was crying,” The boy said with a mocking tone. “Animals can’t cry, they’re animals._

“ _Yes they can, you two just don’t know it” Yi shouted, then the other boy got up from the ground and confronted Yi, which was scolding his friend._

“ _Hey get away from here. You’re not wanted”_

“ _I’m not going anywhere,” Yi noticed looking serious at the group._

“ _You won’t listen hein?” The boy asked glaring at the girl, then pushed her away against the floor._

“ _Hey!” Yi cried as she fell on Jin’s legs as he saw how far Yi’s talk has gone._

“ _Yi are you alright?” Jin asked holding her under her arms, then looked at the two boys, which were laughing. Yi growled and kicked the boy, which pushed her down on the leg, causing him pain. “Yi no!” Jin warned holding the girl back, which wanted to get up._

“ _We better get going” Jin suggested helping the girl up, then the boy that was hit jumped toward Yi punching her on her right eye, shrieking Jin._

“ _Hey!” Jin hissed as his friend got hit in the eye by the boy. Yi passed her hand over her eye slowly starting to get tears on her eyes._

“ _Aww, are you going to cry?” The boy asked while Jin looked sad at Yi’s payback, then Jin growled and gazed angrily at the two boys._

“ _You owe her an apology” Jin mentioned glancing serious at the boys, which started to laugh at Jin’s comment._

“ _Why should I?” The boy asked with a smirk. “She’s the one who started it”_

“ _She was doing the right thing. You two should have stopped right away”_

“ _We have stopped. Shouldn’t you be happy about it?”_

“ _Apologize her and we’re even”_

“ _My face is all scratched up. That’s already sufficient enough”_

“ _It’s not that hard. Just two words” Jin mentioned. “Come, say it”_

“ _No” The boy responded making Jin furrow his eyebrows annoyed at the boy. “What are you going to do now?” The boy asked watching Jin swing his fist back and hit the boy in the face._

“ _Jin no!” Yi scolded the friend holding him back from stepping closer to the boy annoyed, then Yi held her index finger in front of Jin to forbid him to approach the boy. “Don’t do that or you’re worse than him” Yi alerted the raven-haired boy, which took his fist down and looked at Yi._

“ _I’m sorry” Jin apologized sinking his head down disappointed of the violent act of himself, then the principal of their school appeared glaring at the four kids, which looked up at the principal in shook._

“ _Is there any problem?” The principal asked, then the other boy, which hadn’t got harmed by anyone raised his hand immediately to call the principal's attention._

“ _Principal, that little girl here hit my friend with her nails and afterward he hit him for not apologizing her when we haven’t done anything bad,” The boy told the principal, which had a deadpan look on his face at listening to the kids._

“ _You two are doing a really bad impression on me on your first day of school” The Principal mentioned. “You know all the other school you were suspended before told me about everything you did there and I don’t believe a girl like her has nails, that could cut your face like it was done by a cat” The man mentioned as the two boys looked at each other. “You two go immediately back into the school, we’re going to have a talk” The Principal warned the two boys, which sighed annoyed and walked away leaving the adult back with Jin and Yi._

“ _Are you two alright?” The Principal asked as Jin helped Yi up on her feet._

“ _You’re alright Yi?” Jin asked earning a nod from the girl._

“ _I just wanted to free the cat from them. I’m sorry if I caused any trouble” Yi apologized placing her left hand on the right elbow._

“ _It’s alright, but next time you should call a teacher or even me to solve this situation” The Principal explained._

“ _Sure, I’ll do it next time” Yi promised earning a friendly smile of the man, which walked away leaving the two pre-teens back._

“ _Everything is fine now”_

“ _Why did you hit that boy on the face?” Yi questioned her friend which thought about it and shrugged his shoulders._

“ _I don’t know. I had got angry as he pushed you on the ground nearly causing you to cry” Jin declared passing his hand behind his neck. “It got worse afterward and…..I don’t like it to see my friend being hurt by jerks like them,” Jin confessed making Yi smile, then it faded away as she noted something about the situation._

“ _Hey Jin, but you could have got in trouble for hitting them. Did you thought about it before?”_

“ _It’s not the first time I have to watch out for you when you’re going to do something that either causes you trouble or regret,”_

“ _And sometimes you were the one getting in trouble” Yi mentioned with a giggle, shortly the taller boy joined her chuckling too._

“ _Yeah” Jin agreed on the true fact of the girl._

“ _I know you’re not obligated to do all that, but I’m thankful for the times you rescued me out of trouble, even if you got grounded by your parents sometimes”_

“ _You’re welcome” Jin answered. “That’s what friends are for”_

“ _You’re the best of all Jin” Yi commented embracing him tightly, while he placed his own arms around her. Jin smiled at his friend's comment, then widened his eyes as the school bell rang to call the students back to the school._

“ _We’ve got school again” Jin warned the short girl while removing his arms of her while she did the same._

“ _Yeah, are you gonna wait for me after school?” Yi questioned the raven-haired boy, which nodded in agreement. “Awesome, see you later,” Yi said placing her hands in front of Jin’s neck, raising up on her tiptoes to peck the boy on the cheek, surprising him at her deed. Yi then made her way up at the school, leaving a dumbfounded Jin back which slowly passed his hand over the spot he had been kissed. Jin smiled bashfully watching the girl arrive at the entrance of the building, soon he sighed in ecstasy._

Jin crossed out the sentences on the sheet dropping the pen aside falling with his back on the lean of the chair sighing about his flashback.

“Why am I even writing a letter?” Jin asked himself, then dropped the letter back on the table and got away from his desk at his bed, where his night table stood and Jin saw under the alarm clock was a white sheet. Jin widened his eyes as he noticed, that his smartphone was gone and picked up the sheet and saw on the other side a long note for the boy.

“ _Hey Jin. Sorry, I got fed up about you and Yi having disagreed in fulfilling Mr. Burnish’s last wish. I took your phone and decided to do it myself. You’ve got the navigation, the tracking app and everything a scouts boy doesn’t have. I’m not going to get lost and as long as I got battery on your smartphone, I can always see, where I am and get out of the situation. (By the way, I took the charger. Yeah I thought about the charger) If I meet Everest at the mountains, I’ll greet him from you and Yi. Maybe he has an idea, how I could go back if not, I still have the rest of the summer to find the way back home again with your phone. Don’t worry Jin, I’m going to be back, I promise”_

“Ugh Peng, I swear if you die I’m going to kill you!” Jin shouted annoyed after discovering, that his phone was taken away by his cousin. Jin ran at the corridor leaving the apartment of his family heading up to the next floor and stopped in front of the apartment of Yi’s family, then knocked on the door.

“Yi! Yi!” Jin called in panic, then the door opened up and Yi’s mother appeared on the door looking at Jin a little bugged at the boy’s wild knocking parade on the door.

“What’s going on?” The woman asked looking down at the boy.

“Sorry I didn’t want to bother you in any way, I just need to know, if Yi’s here”

“I think she went up to the roof a while ago” The raven-haired woman answered. “Did something happen?”

“N….no, nothing happened I just…..wanted to show her something important” Jin mentioned stepping back. “I’m gonna see, if she’s up there...bye!” Jin bawled running upstair heading to the exit of the building out to the roof, afterward he looked around to encounter Yi in front of the shack adjusting the rope, that held the cover open in front of the entrance and the girl looked back to see Jin standing in front of the door.

“Morning” The friend greeted watching Jin approach her.

“Yi we’ve got a problem” Jin mentioned watching Yi’s friendly look turn curious.

“What’s going on?”

“Peng left this note and went on his own to Mount Everest” Jin explained handing the sheet to the girl, which picked it to read.

“What?” Yi asked widening her eyes in shock as she saw the letter of the boy. “But why did he do that?”

“I don’t know, he’s obviously annoyed with me rejecting the idea to help Miss Burnish out. Now he’s somewhere all by himself.” Jin mentioned, then warped his face in fright as he had a horrible thought. “If something happens to him I’m dead. I’m responsible for him and if something harms me my mother and his are never going to forgive me” Jin mentioned entering into the shack and sat down on the pipe under the map of China. Yi went down on her knees to see Jin looking down on the ground with a tragic face and she placed her hands on Jin’s knees looking up at his maroon eyes.

“Jin don’t worry, we’re going to get him back” Yi assured her good friend, who rolled his eyes at the girl. “He’s got your smartphone, right?” Yi asked earning a nod from the boy. “Why don’t we try to track the smartphone to find out, where he is at the moment?”

“Sure, have you got yours here at the moment?” Jin questioned earning a nod from the girl, which took from the back of her pants her smartphone and gave it to Jin. Yi observed Jin waiting for the smartphone to load the site, afterward, a compass appeared tracking down the phone number he had added before, then it showed the phone number along with Jin’s name on a part showing it to be on the same spot as them.

“He’s here?” Yi asked watching Jin shook his head, then he pressed on a car symbol, which then blended under the map that it was updating to the current location, then the phone was shown on another part of the map, almost 400 miles away from Shanghai.

“Xuangcheng?” Jin asked furrowing his eyebrows surprised. “He’s already four hours away from us?”

“Oh boy”

“That’s bad” Jin announced as Yi sat beside him on the pipe. “Going to get him back just got harder”

“Don’t worry Jin, I have an idea, but I know you’re not going to like it” Yi mentioned looking at the boy, which made eye contact with the girl again.

“If you’re talking about having to go behind Peng the same way he’s going, that’s our only option” Jin mentioned earning a nod from Yi.

“Precisely that. It’s also our only way thought”  
“Good, look if I’m not back the next 24 hours warn my mother about it,” Jin said standing up from the pipe, then he felt Yi grab the boy by his hand standing up behind him.

“You’re not going alone Jin, I’m coming with you” Yi offered looking at the boy, which dropped his mouth in surprise at the friend’s suggestion.

“But…..no you can’t go with me. I don’t want you to get hurt during the trip if that was the case”

“I’m also not letting my best friend go out there alone meeting eventually the same fate that could happen to me,” Yi mentioned crossing her arms with a cheeky smile. “After all, I owe you this, after that time I jumped behind Everest on that boat with you coming behind me,” Yi mentioned seeing Jin roll his eyes up as he remembered that evening he ran after Yi to see if she was alright.

“Okay, you’ve got a point” Jin added. “I think together we can handle it better, than alone, right?” Jin asked earning a nod from the girl. “Great uhm well we’re going to need to list down anything, that we should take with us, maybe money and eventually food”

“Good I meet you down at your apartment”

“Sure and on the way, I think we should do Miss Burnish a little visit” Jin pointed out. “I’d love to know, why she did let Peng go all by himself on this trip,” The Chinese boy told the girl, which listened to his comment.

“Yes, how could she just give Peng the urn to do this trip on his own. He’s just a kid”

“Yeah?” Jin agreed getting out of the shack along with the girl. “This is crazy” The boy admitted walking towards the entrance to the building followed by the girl.


	6. Chapter 6

****Chapter** ** ****6** **

At the office of Miss Burnish sat in front of her desk typing down on her laptop. Behind her laptop was the telephone of the office and it started to ring, then the woman picked it up to attend the call.

“ _Miss Burnish, Jin and Yi are here. The kids you had asked to pass by last week”_

“Send them up” Miss Burnish answered.

“ _They already went without my permission”  
_ “Okay…..” Miss Burnish answered then from the end of the room appeared Jin followed by Yi entering into the office.

“Miss Burnish, how could you just send Peng out at the world just like that?” The boy complained stopping in front of the desk. “He’s just 11 years old,”

“I know he’s still a child, that’s why I send Dave with him. One from my staff members,”

“I don’t care, if he’s accompanied by an adult or not. You didn’t have the right to send Peng with the urn to the Himalayas”

“You’re right young man. I probably should have talked with you or your mother about it,”

“Listen Miss Burnish, Peng was disappointed, that we didn’t agree to fulfill Mr. Burnish’s last wish because we would need to cross China all over again to do that,” Yi added joining the conversation between her friend and the adult.

“Peng said he owes Mr. Burnish this after he brought you all back home” Miss Burnish mentioned then Jin looked away from the woman neutrally. Yi thought about their way back home in Mr. Burnish’s SUV and looked at the raven-haired boy.

“Mr. Burnish and that driver took good care of us during those days, we were heading back to Shanghai. Not many people would have done this” Yi mentioned earning a gaze from the friend.

“At some point you’re right. Not everyone would have done this” The Chinese boy confessed. Yi and Jin glanced neutrally at each other, then Jin raised his left eyebrow up while looking at his friend, which gave him a small engaging smile and Jin sighed unhappily about the mute agreement between the two.

“Alright, I’ve got no choice. We’re going behind them and join them” Jin mentioned looking back at Miss Burnish. “But I’m still going to scold Peng for what he did”

“Alright, if this is the right decision for the two of you, I’d like to at least lend out money for you two to be able to make it back and forth. You two might be a little too young, but I got faith in you two. Otherwise, I’ve got your contact and you can reach me, whenever you need”

“Uh my phone is with Peng by the way” Jin warned surprising the woman.

“Oh well, then Yi can have my number” Miss Burnish mentioned taking a post-it note writing down her mobile phone number, then picked it up handing it to Yi, who took it and shove it into the pocket of her shorts.

Miss Burnish took the receiver of her telephone to call another section of the company, then attended the worker on the other side of the network.

“Chen, could you bring Kai up here?” Miss Burnish asked, then placed the listener down and looked back at the two teenagers. “I brought Kai here, so you three get to know each other. Maybe you might want to keep him?”

“Maybe Nai Nai would like to have a furry friend at home when I and mom are gone?” Yi mentioned glancing at Jin, which shrugged his shoulder unsure about the fact.

“I know at the retirement home many of my grandparents' flatmates enjoy it when some of the visitors bring their dogs for a visit” Jin mentioned earning a short nod from the raven-haired girl. “How bad can it be?”

From the entrance echoes a high voice of a bark, making Yi smile angelic at how adorable the sound of the dog rang in her ears.

“Aww that was the cutest bark I have ever heard” The raven-haired boy mentioned looking back along with Yi, then a man appeared with a great, brown-reddish dog mostly as tall as a Shepherd, with a black snout like a Belgian shepherd and its facial colors were based on the Chow Chow just as the fur all over his body.

“That’s Kai?” Yi asked surprised at discovering, that Mr. Burnish's dog was actually bigger than she had imagined. “….Woah, he’s huge” Yi mentioned and Kai got off the staff member running towards the teens, then jumped at Jin, which had stood frozen in the middle of the room as the dog approached the boy. “Aww, he likes you” Yi added going down on her knees to watch the dog lick Jin all over his face, while he closed his eyes making disgusted grimaces due to the sticky tongue of the canine.

“Easy there boy, save some for Yi too” Jin mentioned making Yi giggle, which reached her hand at the mixed breed, which moved his head up reaching his snout at Yi’s hand, starting to wag with his fluffy tail and gave Yi one big lick over her face making her chuckle, afterward she placed her hands on the dog’s head leaning her forehead on the dog’s.

“Great. We’ve got a new dog whisperer now” Jin mentioned jokingly while Yi giggled at his comment and adjusted the leash of the dog as the staff member handed it out to her.

  
  


  
  


Peng sat inside an intercity train with a large backpack he had lied over his lap. Next to him sat a raven-haired man with a short stubble beard and mustache on his face and dressed normally wearing brown pants and a black pullover. 

Peng sighed dull during the time he was sitting on his seat staring holes in the air along the ride. Peng leaned his face on the window to gaze at the fewer houses that were able to see from the train.

“How much is it to Macheng?” Peng asked while the man beside him was typing down a message on his smartphone.

“I think there were about 70 minutes last time I checked,” Dave answered.

“And when was that?”

“About 10 minutes ago. As I left for the toilet”

“So then we’ve got an hour until our next stop?” Peng asked earning a nod from the adult. “Gees”

“We need more magazines to read, right?” The adult questioned seeing the boy shrug his shoulders.

“Or something to keep us entertained during the ride. Maybe a card game or a simple game we could play on a sheet?”

“I don’t have at the moment any sheets with me. Maybe we could play something else maybe a guess game?”

“What about rock scissors and paper?” Peng suggested. “I used to play this with my cousin Jin, when we were younger,”

“I’m fine with that” The man responded holding his hand out to the boy. Peng grinned at the man holding out his own hand flat vice versa to Dave’s, then they both used the other hand and both pounded on their hand formed to a fist on the other counting it three times.

“Rock, Scissor, Paper, shoot!” Both shouted and both had made a V with their index and middle finger, having their first tie in their game.

“Woah not bad, again” Dave announced pounding along with Peng on their flat hand. “Rock, Scissor, Paper, shoot!” Both exclaimed and held now their hand flat and widen their eyes in surprise. “You’re good”

“No, you’re good” Peng added making the man smirk at the boy, then both pounded with their fist on their hands again and this time, Dave scored one point as he made the sign of the scissor while Peng ended up going with paper again. “Blast it!” Peng blurted out making Dave laugh.

“Is that all you got?” He asked jokingly seeing Peng with an devious smirk on his lips, then he tapped with his fist on his hand along with the adult and both held out their hand as a fist for stone, ending with a tie again.


	7. Chapter 7

****Chapter** ** ****7** **

Yi and Jin had boarded a high-speed train along with their animal companion Kai, which lied on the floor in front of their feet resting. Yi held on her hands her smartphone showing the display to Jin as he observed Yi using the tracking app he had mentioned to Yi back as they needed it. 

“They’re in Shangquiu right now,” Jin mentioned pointing at the phone symbol on Yi’s smartphone. “That’s the station we stop in about 90 minutes. If we’re lucky, we manage to catch them up”

“I don’t know, if we’re going to manage this, Jin. They could when we arrive, board another train and be miles away from us again” Yi mentioned making the Chinese boy groan annoyed.

“How are we going to cross their way?” Jin questioned the friend. “This line here is the only one going to the west direction and it’s the fastest one”

“I know what you mean, but we gotta be anticipate everything. We will always be many hours away from each other, no matter, which way we pick”

“Right” The boy agreed. “At least we’ve got your smartphone to seek for directions…...and watch over Peng,”

“We will find him,”

“I don’t doubt that” Yi added making Jin smile a little. Yi placed her phone back inside the pocket of her shorts, then leaned back on the seat glancing across the cabin at the digital indicator, which showed the current velocity the train was going at the moment. Jin admired Yi as she was looking across the cabin, then he rolled his eyes down thinking about something, then he gazed back at the teenage girl.

“Thank you for coming on this trip with me” Jin added, then Yi looked at the friend gazing normally at him. “It’s good to have someone that could help me out with this case”

“No problem” Yi answered. “That’s what friends are for”

“Yeah…..uhm about that...well” Jin began while passing his hand behind his neck rubbing it feeling slightly tensed. “I’ve been thinking…..last time at the roof, I’ve thought about the past, how we were before, the way I acted towards you, how we both had changed over the time”

“Yeah”

“I’ve been wondering….if it wasn’t for that trip with Everest, we would have never reconciled. I would still be the same selfish idiot I was before and I would probably still be taking lots of girls on a date and well…..It was rude from my side”

“At least you’re not the same as you were at that time. You have changed for the better, just like me” Yi mentioned earning a nod from the raven-haired boy.

“Yeah I mean Imagine me at med school still picking up many other girls on dates as I did back in high school?” Jin scoffed watching Yi hold her hand in front of her mouth chuckling a little.

“I can imagine them being worse as some of the girls you dated and slapped you on the face for you having found another girl right after them”

“I don’t really wanna know, what they would do to me. Honestly, on that part of my life, I wasn’t even realizing what type of a douche I had become. That trip really did well to me”

“The same to me” Yi added. “Also if you didn’t talk to me at that time as my violin had broken and you came to see me I wouldn’t have figured out, how I was avoiding contact with my family” Yi mentioned dropping her head down looking at the dog, that was napping.

“You were on a hard phase of your life Yi. Not everybody knows how to deal with that type of situation” Jin explained to the girl as he placed his hand on her shoulder for console. “Mostly if he was one of the important persons in your life”

“Yeah, it took me a while to surpass it” Yi mentioned and the friend nodded in confirmation.

“It didn’t matter how long it took you thought” Jin added earning a nod from Yi, then looked at Jin’s hand still on her shoulder, afterward he wide his eyes believing she felt bad about it and took it away. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to molest you with this”

“No it’s alright Jin, I…..just forget how it felt like”

“Uh alright” Jin responded a little unsure at the girl’s comment, soon he jumped in surprise as the dog under them raised his head to gaze at Yi with a hangdog look making her smile a little. Kai swung his tail slapping Jin on his leg, making him shake his head in a playful manner and watched the dog put his legs on Yi’s lap to sniff her face, making her laugh and he started to lick her face, which forced Yi into more laughing.

“Hey no please stop this” Yi asked while Jin sat beside her seeing the girl now happy, then the boy caressed the dog on his back and it lied his head down on Yi’s lap while moving the tail back and forth.

  
  


  
  


  
  


Inside a restaurant, Dave sat along with Peng in front of a table for two looking at the menu card.

“I’m going to pick Kung Pao Chicken for lunch” The raven-haired man affirmed placing his menu card down looking at the child Peng, which was still looking at his menu.

“I’m not sure. Jiaozi and Huntun are delicious. The Spring rolls are great too, but they don’t fry them here according to the card. And even the sweet-sour pork meat looks yummy,” Peng enunciated indecisive about the menus he had encountered on the card.

“Don’t you have a favorite out of them?” Dave questioned the boy, that was glancing at the adult.

“Pork buns are my favorite food, but I don’t find it on the list” Peng answered, then Dave checked his own menu card and looked back at Peng.

“Did you check the other side?” The man asked, then Peng opened the menu card and looked bewildered as he realized there were actually two additional pages on his menu card.

“Oh…..Thanks” Peng responded a little embarrassed and found the meal he had asked about. “Hey, I never tried baozi with minced meat” Peng mentioned interested at one of the variations he saw on the card.

“That’s cool, maybe I’m gonna try that out too” Dave decided as he was on the same site as Peng watching the menus. “Or no I’m going to take these ones with red bean filling. That’s very sweet you know”

“My stomach doesn’t take beans very well”

“Okay well, then it’s probably the best, if you take the one with minced meat or the pork meat variant”

“Yeah, I’m gonna do that” Peng mentioned moving to the next page then squealed as he saw the list of the drinks. “They’ve got Shooga Cola!”

“That’s great, but don’t yell it out around. We’re in a restaurant” Dave warned the boy, which nodded at the adult.

“I’m sorry Dave”

“It’s alright, I’m just pointing it out” The raven-haired man implied making the boy smile.

The waiter appeared by their table with a smartphone looking at the two males.

“Good day. Have you two already choose anything from the menu?”

“Yes,” Dave answered. “I would like to order Kung Pao Chicken”

“And to drink?”

“Lemonade”

“Alright,” The man replied noticing on the smartphone the order. “What about you, young man?”

“Baozi with minced meat filling and Shooga Cola” Peng answered so the waiter could add it to the order list of their table.

“Thank you for your order,” The waiter said leaving their table walking to the next one, leaving the two guys alone. Behind Dave passed another waiter bringing a menu card to a brown-dressed person, which was reading a magazine, which had on the front cover an image of Mr. Burnish standing in front of his new enclosure for endangered, rare animals. The person behind the magazine raised her head slowly glancing over it seeing Peng talk to the adult.

  
  


“I’d like to become a basketball superstar when I get older” Peng confessed the adult. “If I don’t make it becoming one, I might want to look for something with animals;”

“You still have a few years in front of you, until you have a better idea. Becoming a basketball star…..If you really work hard on your skills and show them off at the entrance examination, you got good chances” Dave avowed the boy, which nodded at the explanation of the man, then noted behind him a woman with blue eyes glancing over the magazine, then hide it behind it, making Peng tilt his head afterward he saw Mr. Burnish on the front cover.

“Hey, it’s Mr. Burnish on that magazine cover” Peng pointed at the magazine, then Dave looked behind him to see the person holding the magazine closer to herself.

“Oh yeah, three weeks ago before his death he was interviewed. He showed a few pictures from the interior of the Burnish Industries and talked meeting three special kids, which of course were you and you two friends”

“Really?” Peng asked interested.

“Yes. He didn’t mention your names thought. Maybe it had something to do with Everest, right?”

“I don’t know, but I remember Jin having lied to his mom about having taken us to Beijing to the school he has chosen. Probably in case, our parents would watch the interview on TV, they would have questioned us about it,”

“Yeah well it could also be a coincidence, there are many people with the same name” Dave mentioned earning a nod from the boy.

A waitress showed up carrying a plate with the drinks for Peng and Dave, then poured them into their glass and placed each bottle in front of them, then continued her way.

“Dave, do you think we will see Everest, when we arrive up at the mountain?” The child questioned as he saw the man taking a sip from his drink. Dave placed the glass down, pondering about the boy's question.

“That’s a good question. He does know how you look like and you don’t seem to have changed a lot. I believe if he sees you, he’s gonna recognize you”

“It would be so amazing if I could see him again. See how he’s doing right now”

“Maybe we’re going to get lucky up there and meet him again” Dave mentioned watching Peng smile excited at the thought of seeing his furry friend Everest again.

Behind the table, the woman stared at the two listening to their conversation, then furrowed her eyebrows in a determined way and sank her head down making tapping sounds on a smartphone revealing a red-colored straight hair.

“Can I take your order ma’am?” A waiter asked standing beside the person behind the magazine.

“Dim Sum” The woman answered holding her eyes at Peng and Dave.

“And to drink?”

“Water will just do it fine” The woman answered a little grumpy.

“Still or sparkling?” The waiter asked again making the woman roll her eyes.

“Still” She answered then the waiter left the woman back, which kept her eyes on the two raven-haired men.


	8. Chapter 8

****Chapter** ** ****8** **

In the afternoon Yi got out of the high-speed train followed by the mixed breed Kai and Jin, which was pulling behind him a small suitcase with wheels down the vehicle.

“You’re really going to carry the suitcase all behind you?” Yi asked as the boy stopped beside her to look around the station.

“I’ve got a few shirts and a few pants in here in case I need to change them,” 

“I didn't expect as you talked about taking the suitcase you were meaning it”

“I wasn’t but I changed my mind. But hey I can always borrow you something. I can’t promise, that they will fit you”

“I see about that later” Yi mentioned. “If you don’t mind we could keep in there a few water bottles in case we get thirsty on the way”

“Sure and hey can you see, where Peng is at the moment?” Jin asked, then the girl unlocked her smartphone and looked up for the card and updated the site to track down Jin’s smartphone and they found him close to a place called Baoji.

“Here” Yi answered showing Jin the smartphone. Jin then pressed with his finger on the square button to open up the previous sites they had visited last time and entered on a map of china showing all the various railways the country had all over the place. “Look there it is” Yi added as she observed the boy looking over the card then Jin zoomed closer on the card looking for the place, then Yi held her finger over the smartphone near the corner and Jin slowly slid up on the phone to encounter the name of the place.

“We’re going to have to take a regular train. This one was the last station of the high-speed train” Jin mentioned and Yi took her phone back into her pocket.

“So we have to go this way then?” Yi asked earning a nod from Jin.

“Yeah, come down at the underpass must be the departure board of the trains” Jin asserted moving along with Yi to the stairs, walking them down entering a corridor with several passages to other railways. Jin looked around along with Yi, then the girl noted a few passages away from her two TV screens on the wall with various train names, then she nudged the boy on the arm and pointed to the end of the corridor to the TV screens, then both walked together at the screens and stopped there looking at the various lines.

“There is one in 9 minutes. If we manage to get us three tickets and find the line, we’re good”

“Alright” Yi responded moved away from the board along with Jin further to a kiosk, then Yi stopped along with Kai as they saw the dog forbidden sign on the door.

“Kai has to stay out here” Yi mentioned then Jin looked down at the dog, which was panting normally.

“Should I stay with Kai here and you go in look for something?” Jin offered seeing Yi shrug her shoulders.

“You don’t need to do that” Yi answered. “You can go in”

“Okay, do you want anything else besides water?” Jin asked, then heard a stomach grumble and Yi place her hand over her belly.

“Maybe a pack or two of cookies would be a good idea” Yi suggested earning a nod from the boy. “Oh hey look beside the store are two ticket machines. Should I buy us the tickets, while you’re in there?” Yi suggested earning a nod from Jin.

“Good idea” Jin consented, then entered the kiosk while Yi approached the first ticket automat and looked at the display, which showed the railways around the area Yi was. On the side Yi zoomed away to see more of the map, then she gazed at the map searching for the city they had seen Peng before.

“Where is Baoji?” Yi asked herself, then she found the name and clicked on the railway line over the dot, that had the name of the city tagged and jumped to the next page, which asked the passenger number and the class number. “We’re picking second class obviously,” Yi said while exchanging looks with the dog, which sat beside Yi looking at her tapping on the display of the machine tilting his head a little aside wondering, what she was doing on it. “Just in case of an emergency we saved some money”

“1050 Yuan?” Yi asked herself surprised, then she opened the button of the pocket behind the back of her shorts a dark red wallet, then she opened it up to flick through the bills and took out twelve and shove the first one into the gap of the machine, then she wide her eyes as the note got send back to her. Yi frowned and took the bill out again, then shove it into the gap again, which pulled it in, making her smile, afterward the bill came out again, making Yi groan. “Are you kidding me?” Yi complained taking the bill out, then she noticed on the side of the machine the 100 Yuan banknotes were not acceptable, besides 50, 20 and 10.

Kai looked up at the girl, then let out a short bark earning the attention of the girl.

“I probably have to wait for Jin, until he is back from the store,” Yi told the dog, then put the cash bills back into her wallet and checked out the other bills she had beside them and picked out 4 bills of 50 Yuan. “This isn’t enough” Yi mentioned, then Kai started to bark as Jin had appeared carrying his suitcase behind him and a paper bag with two large water bottles and three cookie packs.

“Did you manage to get us tickets?” Jin asked and Yi shook her head.

“The automate doesn’t take the 100th bills” Yi mentioned showing the instruction on the machine to the boy.

“Looks like I’ve gotta use my debit card then,” Jin said taking out his wallet to take out a silver-colored card then inserted the card into the slot of the card reader, then typed down the PIN and removed the card as it got discounted from it. “There we go,” Jin said as the machine went to the next step now printing out the tickets.

“I didn’t know you had a debit card,” Yi said watching Jin giving it a kiss before he put it back into his wallet.

“And I’m glad I had it” Jin confessed making Yi shake her head with a smirk at the silly act of the friend.

“Great, now we should head up at the train. It must be arriving any minute”

“You’re right” Jin agreed. “It was rail 7, right?”

“Yeah, it’s near the boards we saw before” Yi stated, then Jin grabbed the suitcase on the handle again and moved forward quickly together with Yi and the Chow Chow mixed breed to the boards and walked up the ramp to arrive at the platform of the train station encountering many passengers on the smartphone waiting for the train.

“Woah there are many people here”

“Yeah, more than we saw underground” Jin mentioned putting the suitcase straight on the ground on its wheels. “Do you think we’re all going on the same train like them?”

“It’s closing time for most of them. It’s most likely possible for them to be boarding the same as us”

“Well I hope you don’t have claustrophobia, cause this isn’t going to be very comfy for anyone of us,” Jin told the dog, which panted and wagged his tail while looking at the boy. “You know Kai is actually a pretty cool dog,” Jin said going down on his knees to pet the dog on the head. “Do you think he has a good sense of protection or tracking?”

“Maybe one of them he could be good in it,” Yi said gazing at the dog, which turned his head around at Yi panting happily by looking at his new owner.

“That’s our ride” Proclaimed Jin as he saw a white train taxing beside their platform stopping, after that it opened its doors so that a small crowd of passengers could leave the train.

“You go first?” The teenage boy implied and Yi looked at Jin’s suitcase, then glanced at the face of the friend.

“I think you should go first, because of your suitcase” Yi contented and Jin looked at the entrance of the train.

“I think you’ve got a point” The raven-haired boy stated walking at the entrance of the train followed by Yi, Kai and other passengers to the entrance. Jin stopped at the side of the train beside a few other passengers, which were already traveling while standing in the train, therefore Yi approached the boy along with Kai and they stood in front of Jin, then watched more people get into the train.

“Too bad the luggage racks here are small in here” The boy pointed out, then observed Kai sink his ears and put his tail between his legs under his belly and walk around Jin pulling Yi against the boy.

“Sorry,” Yi apologized as she bumped into the friend.

“No problem” Jin answered then Kai walked around Jin and Yi again, then sat down next to Yi with sad puppy eyes. “Don’t worry Kai, everything is okay” Jin assured, then watched Yi caress the dog on his head for a bit, afterward he poked Yi’s hand again with his nose wanting her to pet him again, which she did.

“So when he does that he’s asking for more?” Jin questioned the friend, which chuckled at the question.

“Doesn’t that look obvious?” Yi questioned a little amused.

“Just wondering, could also mean something else?”

“Okay, the only thing I’m wondering about Kai at the moment is, why is he scared at the moment, if it is because of the crowd or anything else,” Yi told the friend, then noted a few passengers wanting to pass beside her to pass through the corridor of the train and Yi stepped closer to her friend.

“We’re definitely going to be really tight in here” Jin mentioned. “Lucky today it’s not that hot” The boy added, then Kai yelped as a passenger, that had just passed beside the two raven-haired teens and stepped by mistake on the dog’s tail, which made the mixed breed jump away pulling Yi and Jin together.

“Woah” Both gasped as it happened followed by Yi hitting Jin on the chin with her head.  
“Ouch that hurt”

“Sorry!” Yi apologized looking up at Jin, which wide his eyes in surprise as he saw Yi had placed her hands over his chest.

“You’re a little clumsy today Yi” Jin joked making Yi furrow her eyebrows in confusion, then she looked down at her arms to see her arms down and she took them off and crashed against a person, then landed back on Jin’s arms, which had held her before eventually hitting him another time.

“I didn’t mean to”

“It’s alright” Jin responded, then Yi looked back at how tight the people had squeezed into the train and Yi looked down at the dog leash, which was wrapped around her and her neighbor.

“This is kind of awkward”

“I know, right?” The friend agreed, then they felt the train start to move on and Yi slowly started to lose her balance and Jin caught her while she hit him again on his chin, making him frown.

“Sorry” The girl apologized making Jin grin at the moment as he had Yi on his arms, then he placed his right arm behind her back caressing her back. Yi held her arms over his chest smiling a little lovely, which made Jin smile and he continued it for a while as long as he saw the girl enjoying it.

  
  


  
  


A biker drove on a white motorcycle out of the main street into the side road, which leads into a small court with a couple of MDU’s buildings. The driver passed beside a sideway parking zone and placed his motorcycle behind the front of a minivan and turned the engine off. The guy got up from the bike, then he walked to the pathway, that leads to the apartment building, then he stopped as he saw a raven-haired woman stand in front of the apartment watching around the place, then she looked at the man and waved at him.

“Oh no,” The man mumbled as he recognized the redhead at the door. “Dr. Zara, what are you doing here?”

“I’ve come with great news” The woman answered. “You won’t believe, who I saw today in the restaurant”

“I don’t really want to know it, to be honest.....”

“Dave, one of your previous employees is accompanying that little boy we had caught last time with his older friend when we were taking the yeti with us. Both are heading to the Mount Everest. I’ve caught their whole conversation. They’re going to scatter the ashes of Mr. Burnish at the Mount Everest and eventually, they will be able to see that yeti again”

“Listen, Zara, we had great luck last time, that we survived that avalanche back in Mount Everest. Don’t you think it would be better to move on with our lives and keep doing, what we were doing this present?”

“This time it will be easier for us. We only have to deal with the child and Dave. We follow them to the Everest and stop them and force the kid to go up there in order to save Dave’s life. When the yeti appears to see the boy, we shoot tranquilizer darts at him and take it to the other scientist institute in Hong Kong. I still have a few old contacts from there, which could help us”

“I’m not fond of the idea. It could still go wrong, what if we’re attacked by other yetis?” The man asked. “You saw, what that yeti could do with its power?”

“For the yeti to not suspect anything we need to be invisible” Zara explained. “We need to blend in, hide somewhere, where we have sight to the boy and the yeti”

“I can’t assure you it’s a great idea” The man added to the conversation again, making Zara sank her head, then she smirked as she had another plan to convince the man to follow her.

“Okay, I’m going to ask anyone else then,” Zara said turning her back to the man. “Too bad with the money we could make from getting that yeti you could quit your job at the mall and I don’t know…..start your own business like I don’t know….. A bike shop?” Zara added walking slowly away from the man, which thought about the redhead’s comment and sighed making Zara again smirk, then stopping waiting for the man to speak to her again.

“Okay, I’ll do it” The man answered, then Zara turned around walking back at the man to give him her hand. “But, if something doesn’t go the right way I quit”

“Deal” Zara agreed shaking the hand of her old friend. 


	9. Chapter 9

****Chapter** ** ****9** **

Jin, Yi and Kai had left in the middle of the night the train in the city Lanzhou and spent the night in a hotel room to gain energy for the next day.

Inside the room, Jin lied on a single bed sleeping with his eyes covered with a red sleeping mask. The shepherd mixed breed Kai lied in front of the other bed, which was placed a little further away from Jin’s bed on a chaise lounge. The bed behind Kai was uncovered and beside the bed was a door, which just got open and Yi came out walking towards the dog, then went down on her knees and placed her hand on the dog’s head caressing him, causing him to wag his tail and open his eyes as he recognized his owner.

“We’re going out later I promise,” Yi told the dog, which nudged her hand with his nose as she placed her hand in front of him, wanting more attention. “I know you love it” Yi added patting the dog on the head making it purr due to the joy he had from the girl.

“Jin you gotta listen to Kai,” Yi said looking at the boy, which was still sleeping. Yi rolled her eyes at Kai and smirked, then walked up to Jin and glanced back at Kai and held her index finger down signing the dog to get to her and he obeyed her and stopped in front of Yi, then she pointed at Jin and Kai placed his front legs on the bed sniffing the duvet of the boy and reached with his nose the boy’s face, then he started to lick him on his face making him smile and Yi covered her hands from the situation.

“Oh that’s so good” Jin mumbled followed by Yi’s chuckles getting louder from the fun she had seeing this scene. “Oh yeah!”

“This is so funny,” Yi said falling down on the floor laughing, while Kai turned his head back to see the girl on the floor laughing, then the dog started to lick Jin again on his face, making him giggle at the feel of the sticky tongue on his skin.

“Please stop that” Jin commanded, then opened his eyes and widened them in shock as he caught Kai licking up his face. “Wah!” Jin cried while crawling aside to stay far from the dog.

Yi was rolling on the ground laughing at her friend, which furrowed his eyebrows annoyed.

“What’s so funny?” Jin asked watching Yi sat up on the floor, slowly coming back to herself.

“It was funny to see you talk while Kai was all over you” Yi mentioned watching Jin uncover himself to reveal himself in pajamas. “I still can’t believe you brought your jammies”

“What? Only real men wore them” Jin mentioned making Yi giggle.

“Alright then _Gunther…._ Should we check now, where Peng is at the moment or…..” Yi asked, then her phone started to ring and she looked at the night table, that stood on the wall between her bed and Jin’s bed and she grabbed her smartphone and saw it was the phone number of Jin’s mother.

“It’s your mother Jin, she must be looking for us” Yi warned the boy, making him sank his head down.

“Do I have to lie again to my mother?”

“We could say the truth too?” Yi suggested, making Jin think about the suggestion.

“Maybe both....I do both” Jin answered picking up Yi’s phone to attend the call.

“Good morning mom. Hey great that you called….I went to Beijing to show Peng the city together….Yi’s also here and she’s gonna show him her school too”

Yi watched Jin on the phone, then turned around and started to make her bed, then rolled her eyes back at the boy listening to his call.

“Also we might be here for two weeks because there’s a….science…..slumber party at our dorms which you probably would like it. There will be no alcohol nor anything and Peng can be with us too without a problem. Yi is there too…..she’s going to meet the girls from my school and….then I meet hers at her school, but we’re there for a uhm I forgot the name of that”

“A convention…..to…..show everyone, what we have learned during the first year” Yi invented looking at Jin trying to help him.

“That exactly, thanks, Yi. A convention to show everyone their learned….stuff….”

Yi adjusted her pillow and placed it on the top of the bed, then observed Jin continuing his call.

“I left it in my dorm charging, that’s why I couldn’t attend your call” Jin answered, then widened his eyes at another question of his mother. “Maybe I turned on the do not disturb mode instead of turning the wifi off. It’s not the first time I pick up the wrong symbol when I want to turn it off for it to charge faster…..alright mom, we’ll call you back, if we stay longer or go back earlier, yeah, bye mom….........what do you mean?….......Mom, why are you looking through my stuff?...........,just leave it there, okay and don’t say that to anyone!…..bye…..yeah me too.” Jin finished the call and crossed his arms a little annoyed.

“What happened?” Yi asked making Jin wide his eyes.

“Oh she just found an old letter of me trying to confess to a girl I had a crush on….years ago”

“Interesting, who was it?” Yi asked making Jin furrow his eyebrows serious at the girl.

“Come on Yi, we can talk about that later. We have to find Peng first” Jin warned the girl, which nodded at the boy.

“Sure, I was just asking, but I respect it if you don’t want to say it,” Yi said standing beside Jin, which typed down his phone number again and pressed on the update button to track the current location of Peng.

  
  


  
  


Meanwhile, Dave stood together with Peng at a sign with a bus symbol on it and under it was another sign with the times, the bus would stop on that spot. Behind the sidewalk they were standing on was a small wall, that separated the sidewalk from the river that split the city from the other part.

“In about 35 minutes our train departs to Urümqui. According to the site, we will be for about six hours inside the train” Dave mentioned earning a nod from the child.

“And it’s a high-speed train, right?” Peng asked.

“Yeah. Besides if it was a regular train, you would be sitting in there for about 12 hours more or less” Dave explained, then a smartphone started to ring and Dave looked down at his black-colored pants and took out from his pocket a silver-colored smartphone. “It’s my wife, may I?”

“Sure” Peng responded, then Dave answered the call and leaned against the wall while listening to the person on the other side. Peng looked across the street at a playground to see two raven-haired twins playing together with a younger boy basketball. The older boy passed the ball to the shorter boy, which then threw it from far at the board of the basket, falling on the ring and entering the basket to score for the team. The boy ran at the boy, that had passed him the ball to hug him, followed by him caressing the boy on the head complimenting him.

Peng sank his head in disappointment as he thought back on his older cousin Jin, which helped him practice for the school tournaments. Peng took out the smartphone of Jin from the bottle pocket of his backpack and looked at the display, which showed him in the middle of the screen and on the left side stood Jin with his arm stretched forward since he was the one holding the smartphone and on the other side was their female friend Yi holding her right hand up, which wasn’t captured on the display this leaving for any other viewers the wonder, if she was just waving or holding her index and middle finger up for the peace sign similar to the bunny ears Jin had done with his free hand behind Peng’s head, which he hadn’t noted on that time. Peng pressed the aqua-colored message button opening the message list of Jin’s long friendship list, which made the boy sigh. He pressed on the search bar and typed down the name _Yi_ and it showed two phone numbers, one of them was Yi’s while the other one, was saved under _Yi’s mother._

 _H_ _ello Yi, it’s me, Peng. I know you and Jin are worried about me, but I’m good. One of Miss Burnish’s employees is here with me. He’s nice and all, but I miss you guys. The trip isn’t the same without you in it._ _Dave and I are right now in the city called Xining. If you want to know it. I love you guys”_

Peng sent the message away and placed his phone back in the pocket of his backpack and looked at Dave, which was still on the phone with his wife. Dave put his phone back as he was done with the call and walked back at Peng to see, he looked down with a sad face and Dave bend down at the boy to look at his face. “You’re alright?”

“I’m okay…..I just thought about Jin and Yi,” Peng hinted.

“You miss your friends?” The adult questioned earning a quick nod from the young child. “You want to go back home?” The man asked seeing the boy shake his head in disagreement.

“I promised I would bring the ashes up at the Mount Everest and scatter them over there. It’s now a long way back home. I don’t want us to have wasted our time in coming only this far, just to get back home again”

“So you want to continue?” The raven-haired man asked earning a nod from the boy. “Alright, you can always say anything if you change your mind”

“Sure” Peng confirmed making Dave smile, which stroke the boy on his hair. “You make me think a lot on my son”

“You’ve got a son?” Peng asked surprised earning a nod from the adult.

“He’s around your age. He’s not very fond of sports like you, but he likes to read and to draw”

“That’s cool” Peng mentioned making the adult smile, then he rolled his eyes at the side as he saw a white-colored bus stop in front of them and the doors opened up and in the middle, a woman walked out backward pulling out a baby wagon, afterward the two raven-haired guys entered into the bus and sat on the first two seats in front of the entrance.

“Hey, would you like some cookies?” Peng asked as he had placed his backpack over his lap.

“I could take one, if you don’t mind” Answered Dave and the cousin of Jin took out from his backpack a red-colored cookie pack and opened the already loose end, pulling the plastic with the cookies out and let Dave take a biscuit out, then Peng took two and closed his pack and as he shoved it into the backpack he noted down in the backpack lied under the urn, where the remains of Mr. Burnsih are a black phone cover, which Peng couldn’t recognize from anywhere. Peng squinted his eyes to recognize it, but then he shrugged his shoulders and closed the backpack.

  
  


Yi and Jin sat on the next train along with Kai traveling to the final destination of the route. Jin sat next to the window reading a book, while Yi had her head lied on the seat feeling dull about the ride.

“You’re sure you don’t want to read the book along with me?” Jin offered making Yi shake her head.

“I think reading anything about medicine will just frustrate me more, cause I won’t understand half of the words in it,” Yi answered to the friend.

“Well, not everything here is complicated. It’s actually quite good explained” Jin mentioned, then Yi looked at the title of the book to find out, it was about human diseases.

“Are there any reasons written in how heart attacks happen when a person is younger?” Yi questioned the boy, which shrugged his shoulder and moved back to the contents of the book. “I think it’s in part two of this book series”

“Okay”

“Were you wondering about your father’s sudden heart attack in the past?” Jin asked earning a nod from Yi. “I don’t know, but I remember your grandparents saying he suffered a heart attack as he went to work. Also tragically cardiac arrests have the highest death cases for humans per year. Most of them come out of nowhere, others already had that issue and passed away at some point of their live”

“That’s just crazy to think about it. My dad was always active, he didn’t overwork too much, Nai Nai and my mom watched that we had at home enough healthy food too for dinner. But it just happened like that”

“Your father isn’t the only one. It happened to some even life on TV, remember a few years ago, that one basketball player, that after he scored for his team, minutes later he stood in the middle of the field and suddenly he felt down on the ground?”

“Wasn’t he around the 26th or something?” The girl questioned earning a nod from the friend.

“That’s awful to know when people who are this young have to leave the world just like that”

“Believe me it is” Yi hinted making Jin look remorseful at the friend.

“Sorry” He apologized seeing Yi smile a little.

“You don’t need to apologize. You’ve done nothing wrong”

“Oh I thought it was because of the talk I had made you feel bad”

“You didn’t Jin”

“That’s great. The last thing I want would be hurting you” Jin mentioned making Yi chuckle softly.

“It’s great to know I have a friend like you” Yi noted earning a courteous smile of the teenage boy. Yi mirrored his expression gazing up at the maroon eyes of the boy, then watched him lean his head closer to Yi and the girl closed her eyes, then she opened her eyes in shock as she heard someone yell for help, which also caused Jin to stop his move and look across the cabin to see a woman look around in panic.

“My baby is choking!” The woman shouted a few seats away from the trio. Yi looked at Jin, which was looking at the woman, then he glanced back at his best friend.

“I know, what to do” Jin mentioned getting up, while tripping on the dog Kai, making him get up and jump at Yi’s lap and looked bewildered at the boy running across the cabin to the woman.

Jin arrived seeing the woman hold her baby with the face down at the floor with her right arm and using her left hand to hitting carefully on the back of the baby in despair of the situation.

“Ma’am, I can help you” Jin offered seeing the woman looking up at the teen in panic. “I’m a medicine student”

The woman nodded almost unnotable and the Chinese boy kneed beside the chair of the woman, then the woman handed the baby out fast at the teen, which lied the baby over his left arm with his hand supporting the baby head.

Yi sat beside the woman, that was watching in shock her baby, then saw Yi place her hands on the shoulder’s of the mother to comfort her.

“Everything will be alright” Yi professed watching Jin firmly giving back blows on the baby back, similar to the woman before. During the back blows, he watched the baby, then moved his hand under the baby to lower the head more down, than its chest and continued to hit the infant on his back while the mother watched. Yi swallowed hard at seeing Jin practicing the first aid on the toddler, noticing Jin’s face slowly turning tense at the situation, but he kept working on it.

“What did your baby swallow?” Yi questioned carefully, then the woman pointed at the sill a half-full blueberry yogurt with a spoon inside it and she placed her hand behind the young mother’s back gazing at her with an apologetic face, then looked at Jin still back blowing the infant afterward out from the baby mouth fell out one in crème and saliva covered berry, followed by the baby coughing hard. “Whoa” Yi wide her eyes in surprise as she looked at the floor, where the baby had let out the berry, it had choked on. The baby started to cry, then Jin held the infant up looking at the face of the shorthair watching him. Jin smiled euphoric at having saved the baby’s life, then looked at the mother, which was now crying even more at the heroic deed of the raven-haired boy and he carefully handed the baby back to the woman.

“Here your boy is alright” Jin mentioned as the woman took her baby back into her arms to soothe him. “I suggest you to pass by the doctor or the hospital just to make sure everything is okay with your son”

“Thank goodness you were here” The woman thanked making the boy smile, then offered the woman his hand for her to shake, but she instead wrapped her arms around the teen with the baby, making Jin wide his eyes surprised. “Heaven send me an angel at the right moment”

“Uh….yes” Jin answered, then rolled his eyes down at the baby to see he marked a stain with his saliva-covered mouth on his checkered shirt. “Oh I think you need a tissue little man” Jin mentioned, then the mother sat back on her seat with her baby and searched in her handbag for tissues.

“This is…..amazing” Jin mentioned looking at Yi and the adult woman. “This is the first time I save someone’s life. I had learned this in the first months during the beginning of my education and It…..It felt good” Jin mentioned making his friend Yi smile.

“You did a good job in assisting her Jin,” Yi complimented making Jin smile bashfully.

“I’m glad it went well” The med student mentioned looking at Yi, which rolled her eyes down smiling enamored.

“Are you two leaving the next station?” The woman asked and Jin shook his head. “Oh, I would have liked to offer you two a tea or something else. As a thank you for your engagement”

“I just did what I had to do. The thanks and the happiness in the face of both of you are reward enough,” Jin mentioned earning a nod from the woman.

“But at least sit here together with me. It’s just for one station”

“Sure” Jin answered exchanging looks with Yi, then Jin sat vice versa to Yi and the two looked at the baby, which was passing his fingers over the watch at the mother’s arm switching between the modes on watching curiously how the numbers switched.

“I think around here somewhere is the Gobi desert” Yi mentioned looking at her male friend.

“Really?” Jin questioned seeing Yi nod. “Maybe we will pass beside it?” Jin mentioned seeing Yi shrug her shoulders and look out of the window sighing amorously while Jin observed the toddler playing with his mother’s watch.


	10. Chapter 10

****Chapter** ** ****10** **

At the Qinghai province near the Goldmud airport, Zara sat in front of a small limousine watching a few cars driving on the road up towards the airport at the end of it. Inside the car, the goon leader sat on the driver seat on the phone talking to someone. The man placed his phone away, then he opened the door of the vehicle getting out of it and walked to the redhead.

“They’ll be here in two minutes. They passed with the van without any problem” The man mentioned. 

“Have you already located the boy?” Zara questioned making the man shake his head.

“Nope, but I will” The man answered earning a nod from the woman, then he took out his smartphone again to locate the boy. “Do you think they won’t find the smartphone?”

“I made sure, that it would be hidden enough under the urn the boy was carrying. I don’t think he’s going to find it so soon”

“Good. I don’t think he’s going to take the urn out until he’s up at the Himalayas”

“Exactly. Even if they would find it, we have another group landing in Kathmandu the next hours and they’ll be closer to the destination and would encounter them, if the boy and Dave are going the right way….Honestly, what are they thinking about going up to the Himalayas to scatter Burnish’s ashes? This is just ridiculous”

“It might have been, what the testament of Burnish could have said. You know he was so fascinated with the mount Everest, that he might have chosen to have his ashes scattered there when he wrote his last will”

“Most likely. But one thing is for sure” Zara said turning around to the partner. “If we catch Dave and the boy before the mountains, we threat the kid with Dave’s death and the only way to free him would be him going up to the mountain to lure the yeti to him and when we see him, we all aim him with tranquilizer darts to take him down and it’s over. The scientists keep their yeti, we get our money and the two….well they’re useless they can stay alive, it doesn’t matter. Who’s going to believe what happened anyway? No one believed Burnish years ago when he saw the yeti for the first time”  
“Sounds plausible” The former security leader of the Burnish industries agreed. “Mostly since the other two teens are away” The man mentioned making Zara snicker shortly.

“If they actually would show up, I would have a bigger threat for the boy to go up to the mountains for us”

“This really seems to be easy Zara” The man concurred earning a confident smile of the woman.

“I told you it wouldn’t be harder than it was back then” Zara mentioned, then watched a white van approach with the symbol of the Hongkonger flag and the symbol of the scientific labor, which consisted of a chemical flask with a dropper over it dropping a black-colored liquid in it. Zara smiled and waved her arm at the conductor, which was a raven-haired woman, which moved the vehicle aside from the road to park vice versa to the former criminal pack.

“Shouldn’t we discuss the plan somewhere else?” The driver asked earning a nod from the redhead.

“Yes and there’s an industrial zone back there. The workers are all busy in the factory, we can park on the outside and discuss it in the van or on the outside without any problem” Zara affirmed earning a thumb up from the woman, which put the blinker of the van on to enter back into the road, then Zara entered along with the man into the black car and made a U-turn to follow the van out of the airport area.

  
  


  
  


In the afternoon Jin, Yi and Kai were traveling on the train for a few hours. Although it’s frustrating for the two to feel well on the long ride, they tried to motivate each other to suffer less on the ride from boredom.

“Okay I know this comes now out of the blue, but FantasyWorks secretly made the past years hilarious and weird scenes in their movies, so that fans could use it to make memes. This why they also nickname the studio _Memeworks_ ” Jin asserted while the friend listened to his story.

“Dolan is a great movie studio and that for many generations, but I don’t know, I could identify myself better with some of the girls from the FantasyWork movies,” Yi mentioned glancing at the tall boy.

“Most of the girls there seem to be tomboys just like you”

“Yes…..I could never become like all the other girls at the school. You know wear makeup, dresses, skirts. I just can’t do that. It’s just not my thing Jin”

“You’re you. And you’re just great the way you are”

“I know, thanks” Yi responded. “But have you ever wondered, why I’m actually like that?” The girl questioned making Jin shrug his shoulders.

“I never really cared if you were more like the girls or not. At least, when I was younger and we were always hanging out together…..hey probably one of the reasons you’re more of a tomboy is because you were always hanging out with me and Peng most of the times.” Jin mentioned. “We were always doing boys stuff like playing basketball”

“Eventually?” I don’t remember beside I used to wear many t-shirts or shorts, when I went out. I never had the interest to wear any skirts or dresses. Not even today”

“Well, you never needed to wear a dress to look amazing. Like…...any other girl just wears them, cause its a girl thing and all,”

“You don’t sound like you’ve got a good knowledge about girls, Jin” Yi mentioned with a chuckle making Jin roll his eyes.

“The douche Casanova you knew back then is history. Don’t ask me, what’s was going on through my head at that time,”

“Puberty?” Yi added seeing Jin mock laugh at her comment.

“Really funny” Jin grumbled.

“Yeah, I see that. I just wondered how your reputation didn’t get ruined with all the dates you had in that space of time”

“I didn’t have them all at once in the first place. Second, if I would get caught I would really have a bad reputation and it would have ruined my popularity back in high school”  
“Poor past you” Yi commented making Jin shake his head while smiling amused at the friend. “What?”

“Nothing” Jin pointed out. “I always thought you disliked the fact I was popular back in high school”

“Yeah, I did, but mostly how you acted towards me sometimes when you were around your new friends. You know as if I was a stranger or some loser,”

“I know and I’m sorry about it, I….”

“It’s alright Jin, I’m just saying. You don’t need to say anything”

“I know, but I feel like it doesn’t make me feel better” Jin confessed observing Yi take out her smartphone, then she glanced at the medical student.

“Look Jin. It’s been a year since we bounded again after we accompanied Everest back home. We’ve been more opener and honest with each other about our lives as our friendship was restrained. We texted each other once in a while during our courses and we’re here together without the urge to take each other down for silly things” Yi mentioned unlocking her smartphone, then she furrowed her left eyebrow as she saw she had a message from Jin’s smartphone. “I think Peng sent us a message?” Yi said and Jin leaned his head beside Yi’s to check the message.

“What did he say?” Jin asked reading the message. “ _Hello Yi, it’s me, Peng. I know you and Jin are worried about me, but I’m good. One of Miss Burnish’s employees is here with me. He’s nice and all, but I miss you guys. The trip isn’t the same without you in it. Dave and I are right now in the city called Xining. If you want to know it. I love you guys”_

“When was the message sent?” Yi asked, then Jin pointed at the top of the message, which said the date and the time, the message had arrived. “Almost seven hours ago” The Chinese boy mentioned.

“Let’s check his location now” Yi suggested opening the smartphone tracking app again, then added Jin’s phone number on it and pressed the updating button to look for Peng’s current location.

“He’s close to Türpan. Probably an hour away from there” Jin guessed holding his index finger on the phone symbol on the display. “At least we’re on the same route”

“If Peng and Dave decide to overnight at Urümqui we might be able to catch up with them before they continue” The Chinese girl predicted observing Jin press the home button before he handed it back to Yi.

“You’ve got any idea, what we’re going to do when we find Peng?” Jin questioned the friend, who looked up at the boy a little perplexed. “Does it make sense for us to go back with him?”

“We’re on the other end of China. If we take the conventional line down to the borders, we’ll be In two days I guess near the Himalayas,” Pointed out the short-haired girl. “If you still prefer to go back to Shanghai, it’s fine,” Yi said looking at the friend, which thought about Yi’s words.

“I’ll think about that”

“I know you were against it at the start, but I think now, that we’re all out here we should continue our way to Mount Everest to fulfill Mr. Burnish’s last wish,” Yi added watching Jin sink his head down looking neutrally at the floor. Yi placed her hand on the friend’s shoulder bowing down at eye level to the teenage boy, afterward he rolled his eyes at the girl meeting her own eyes, then saw the girl giving him a soft smile. Jin smiled courteously at the girl friend and raised his head up again.

“Thanks, Yi,” Jin said holding out his hand for the friend to shake, but she gave him a hug instead, making him grin and lean his head beside Yi’s enjoying it.  
  
  



	11. Chapter 11

****Chapter** ** ****1** ** ****1** **

  
The next morning at Urumiqui Peng and Dave sat for breakfast together in the dining hall of the hotel they had spent the night. 

“You know with what rice porridge tastes great?” Peng asked looking at the adult, who looked forward at the boy while taking the full spoon into his mouth. “With cinnamon”

“I guess that is your favorite topping too, right?”

“Yeah, but my mother doesn’t let me add cinnamon to my breakfast, because it would have more calories than it has normally,”

“She just means it well. She doesn’t want you to end up sick from too much sweet”

“I know, my cousin Jin does the same to me when I’m at his parent’s house. I’ve got a little bit too much weight on my body. You’ve probably seen it too”

“You practice basketball. As long as you practice regularly sports you won’t increase your weight. You shouldn’t also exaggerate on eating sweet food. Once in a while it doesn’t hurt though” The man explained earning a nod from the boy followed by him taking another spoon into his mouth.

“How many hours is our next ride Dave?” Peng questioned taking a big spoon of rice and shove it into his mouth. “Will it be longer, because of being a conventional route?” The boy added looking up at the adult, which started to think about his question, then shrugged his shoulders.

“It’s hard to say” Dave admitted unsure about what to answer to the boy. “3-4 days are most likely to be in front of us since we have to stop and overnight because there’s no night train on our route”

“Are there other hotels too?”

“Sure, if not, there are other options we can check”

“Okay,” Peng said, then watched Dave take out his smartphone to check out on the internet for information for their ride and the boy looked down at his backpack, where he had Jin’s smartphone in the net pocket for water bottles, afterward he took the smartphone out to check the display seeing, that it was 8:24. Peng unlocked Jin’s smartphone and opened the messages from his cousin to look at the message he sent the last day to see it had been read, but he didn’t have an answer. Peng sighed at not having heard anything from Yi and placed the smartphone on the table.

“In twenty minutes there’s a train. If we leave now we will make it in time” Dave mentioned looking at Peng, which listened to him.

“I will go to the toilet then before we leave”

“Sure I’ll bring my plate away” The adult noted. “I’ll wait for you on the front of the restrooms”

“Okay, I’ll bring my plate too. I’m done” Peng mentioned picking up his plate along with his drink and the cutlery, waiting for Dave, then Peng moved forward crossing the room, followed by Dave, who before they left picked up Peng’s backpack, so they could leave without having to go back again.

  
  


It’s almost 10 O’clock Jin, Yi and Kai were inside a booked hotel room still sleeping. Jin lied covered with the bedcovers alone in his bed, while on the other bed beside him lied Yi with Kai, which lied in front of her feet. Jin groaned slowly crawling out of the bed while stretching his arms, then he looked at Yi, while scratching his neck with the knuckles of his fingers, then he looked over at Yi seeing her sleeping. Jin smiled enchanted at the sight of the raven-haired girl sleeping, then sat up on the bed placing his legs out of the bed and observed the girl again, then noted Kai lifting his head up yawing loud, then he looked around to see Jin was already awake, then Kai got down on the floor, going towards Jin to greet him.

“Hey boy” Jin greeted the mixed breed, which sniffed Jin on his hands, then licked them up. Jin looked at the night table between the bed of him and Yi, and he got up to press on the home button to see the time and widen his eyes in shock. “10:07?” Jin asked looking at the shepherd mix, which licked himself on the nose and the teen looked over at Yi, which was lying in the bed. Jin bend down on his knees in front of Yi and placed his hand on her shoulder, moving her gently back and forth.

“Yi wake up” Jin said while he was waking her up carefully. “We missed breakfast time” Jin warned seeing Yi open her eyes slowly and roll them up at the boy.

“Jin?”

“We woke up late” Jin mentioned. “It’s already 10 am”

“Oh crap, did we really sleep that long?” Yi asked picking her smartphone to see the time.

“I think we have here another time” Jin guessed. “What does your smartphone tell, if you set Urumiqui on the world time app?”

“I don't have this city added, but I see if I can find it here….I’ve got it and there are two hours of difference,” Yi said sitting up on the bed, then saw Kai place his paws beside her sniffing her on the belly. “I know I smell a little sweaty boy”

“Shall I borrow you one of my shirts?” Jin offered raising his right eyebrow up looking at Yi, which shook her head.

“No, it’s alright. Next time”

“More like next time I should have borrowed you something else to sleep”

“If you don’t mind. I could sleep without a problem in my underwear”

“You did?” Jin asked surprised, then closed his eyes in shock making Yi roll her eyes amused by his reaction.

“Don’t worry, I’m still under the covers and I don’t find it bad if you catch me like that….only if you would stare at me like a creep”

“I wouldn’t do the latter though, hey can I check, where Peng is at the moment?” The Chinese boy questioned, then felt Yi press her smartphone against his chest, then he slowly palpated around himself until he reached with his hand on Yi’s to grab the smartphone.

“Open your eyes, I’m covered by the duvet” Yi warned and Jin opened his eyes to see Yi had put the bedcover around her waist covering her whole legs. “I’ll be dressing up in the bathroom,” The raven-haired girl noticed walking away picking her clothes, that lied on a small couch and walked towards a brown door, opening it back afterward she closed it after entering the room.

Jin in the meanwhile added on the tracking app his phone number and pressed on the update button to look for the actual location Peng was and it appeared about a centimeter away from a red circle, which marked his and Yi’s location.

“Peng’s here!” Jin extolled jumping up while Kai gave out a bark at Jin’s reaction. Jin ran at the door of the bathroom knocking on it waiting for an answer from the girl.

“Do you need to go?” Yi asked.

“Peng’s in the same hotel as us” Jin urged. “I need to catch him before he leaves Yi”

“Will you go down right now?” The girl questioned.

“I’m going to change my clothes right now and head down. Hopefully, I won’t be late” Jin mentioned pushing his pajama pants down to his suitcase, that was placed beside the chair Yi had her clothes on and opened the suitcase taking out the same shirt and trousers he wore along their trip, then he sat down on the bed putting his pants on, afterward he pulled off his head the pajama shirt and put his checkered dress shirt on and buttoned it up. He picked up his shoes and ran back to the bathroom door and while putting them on he knocked on the door again.

“I’ll be going down right now, I’ll meet you there,” Jin said and ran at the exit along the corridor. Jin ran along the corridor at the stairwell, running the next three levels down and leaving at the hall, which leads to the exit of the hotel and the restaurant. Jin went into the restaurant to catch a few waiter and waitresses preparing the tables for the lunch. Jin looked back at Yi’s smartphone to see he was still a few centimeters away from the red dot, but the image was the exact same one from before, then he pressed on the update button and waited for it to update, then it showed him, that the smartphone was now far away again, near a railway and Jin zoomed back seeing the distance wasn’t as big as it were the other days.

“Don’t worry little cuz, I will find you,” Jin said looking away from the smartphone towards the dining hall as beside him passed a waitress watching down at him.

“Can I help you?” The woman asked and Jin looked up at her.

“It’s alright, the issue got solved” Jin mentioned earning a nod from the woman, which continued her way to the next table adding serviettes on it.

  
  


Peng and Dave sat in their next train heading to the destination of its route. Dave was solving a crossword puzzle while Peng was reading a comic book. Peng wide his eyes from it and started to chuckle, then he looked down at his backpack, that lied beneath his feet and he looked on the side of the backpack, where the bottle pockets are and put his hand inside is and took his hand out looking at his hand noticing, that something had gone missing.

“Huh?” Peng continued putting his other hand on the other pocket to encounter nothing again. Peng then used both hands trying to find what he was looking for, but he couldn’t. He then opened the top of the backpack to only find Mr. Burnish’s urn in there and he closed the backpack again. “Dave, have you got my smartphone?” The boy asked and Dave looked at the boy.

“Didn’t you have it before?” Dave questioned the child, which shook his head.

“I did, but I haven’t used it and now as I wanted to take a picture I discovered, that it’s not here anymore”  
“Didn’t you eventually forgot it back in the restaurant?” The man asked making the boy shake his head.

“No, I think not, cause I had it there in my backpack. But maybe I have forgotten it on the table?”

“Are you sure?” Dave asked. “After we left on our table only the decoration and the orange juice was left,”

“Do you think someone stole it?”

“I don’t believe someone would just steal there a phone from another table, maybe they kept it in the lost and found office?”

“Or I lost it before we got to the train. I mean I didn’t really check when it was the last time I saw Jin’s smartphone”

“If you know the phone number we could find it with an app” The adult suggested. “Do you per coincidence know the phone number?” The man asked seeing Peng shake his head.

“No”  
“Bummer, we could at least figure out, where it was,” Dave said watching Peng get sad. Dave sank his head down and placed his arm behind Peng’s head pulling him closer to him. “Don’t worry Peng, I can get your cousin a new one…...or even Miss Burnish, she said in case something gets broken or lost during our trip she wouldn’t mind replacing it”

“She’s very nice Dave”

“Yeah, she’s just like Mr. Burnish was before. The reason Mr. Burnish had changed over the years was because of the work. He was so possessed in finding a yeti that….well he forgot many important things in his life and he got colder with the time. Until you three kids showed up with helping Everest back home and he started to realize why he should get back” Dave explained to Peng, which listened to the adult.

“Is it true, that Mr. Burnish had an important person in his life like a girlfriend?” Peng asked seeing Dave roll his eyes up thinking about the question.

“I’m not sure, but I think he was engaged and at some point his fiancé dissolved their engagement due to him being busy all the time”

“That’s sad”

“I know” Dave agreed. Both were quiet for a while, then Dave looked down at Peng and spoke to him again. “Do you have a thing for a certain girl?” Dave asked making Peng look at him in shock.

“No!” Peng shouted making Dave laugh.

“Alright, I’m just kidding. I know you’re not on the exact age for that”

“I know a little bit about love….but my older cousin Jin is in love”

“With who?” Dave asked. “Yi?” The man asked making Peng furrow his eyebrows in confusion.

“How did you know?”

“Lucky shot” Dave answered. “Aren’t they best friends or something?”

“They’ve been friends since pre-school or I think they even knew each other from Yi’s birth. At least I heard Jin’s mother talking once about being with Jin on Yi’s day of birth at the hospital together and Jin even got the chance to hold her in his arms along with his mother”

“Now that’s what I call friends for life”

“They have always been good friends. Only in that space of time as Yi’s father had passed away, their friendship had been on a thin thread, but after Everest both had reconciled and are now the same friends from before, maybe there’s something different about it”

Dave smirked at the explanation of the boy and placed his arm behind the boy.

“You know in most of the friendships between girls and boys there’s always this moment, where one of them or even both of them start to feel attracted to their friend. For some it’s awful for others it’s great. Some find it great, cause it’s their best friend and they know each other well, awful it’s when they know each other well and they or one of them is afraid, that the relationship doesn’t work out and they lose their friendship”

“Jin told me last time he has no chance with Yi, cause she sees him as a brother”

“Typical” Dave jested. “She might not be interested in Jin at the moment. Or she could be interested, but she’s on denial”

“What’s that?”

“This means she’s in love with him, but she avoids to show or reveal them because she doesn’t want that to happen”

“But why wouldn’t she?”

“We don’t know if that’s the case.” The Chinese man warned. “She could be in love with him but waits for him to do the first step. Maybe she just sees him as a good friend and wants to keep it that way. Maybe if he confesses to her, she’ll be like _what? We’re best friends, we can’t do that”_

“That one would hurt Jin really bad. I think he already feels hurt in being called a brother”

“Yes, rejections can hurt, but you never know you will be rejected if you declare yourself to your crush. I know many in Jin’s place spend their days thinking of ways to confess to their crush otherwise on how they get rejected. But you shouldn’t think about that. You just need to do it. How are you going to know, she’s going to reject you if you don’t talk to her at all? Would you want to think for the rest of your life, what could have been, if you said it or not?”

“You know so much about love Dave. You probably were not afraid to ask girls out, right?” Peng questioned with a smile.

“I actually never asked a girl out. The woman I married asked me out and I said yes” Dave mentioned seeing Peng drop his smile at that surprise.

“Oh...”

“Well, that’s a funny story. I could tell you that another time, if you want” Dave said looking at his crosswords book again picking the pen he had left on the book, therefore Peng looked out off the window seeing the green hills far away at the background, then he looked down at his comic to continue the story.


	12. Chapter 12

****Chapter** ** ****1** ** ****2** **

Yi sat in the train wagon on the seat with Kai lying in front of her feet who was nibbling with his mouth on his dewclaw. Yi lied her head on the window yawing, then she rolled her eyes down at the dog, which was licking his paw, which was wet from his cleaning. 

“Is your claw really that dirty boy?” Yi asked seeing the dog wag his tail at Yi’s comment, but continue his job making Yi shake her head. 

On the corridor, Jin came and took a seat beside Yi, who glanced back at the boy, who had arrived.

“Anything new?” Jin asked watching Yi shake her head.

“I didn’t check anything yet” Yi mentioned looking at Jin, then she covered her mouth as she was about to yawn again, making the boy grin.

“Good to know I’m not the only one tired here” Jin joked earning a nod from the girl.

“Maybe I should take a little nap” Yi mentioned Jin nod.

“Sure, you can lie your head on my lap without a problem, if you want to”

“Nah it’s alright, thanks Jin”

“Alright” Jin responded, then Yi handed her smartphone at Jin.

“In case Peng says something, here,” Yi told the boy which took her smartphone. “Or you can check his location”

“I might do that later” Jin explained getting up from the seat to open the luggage he had over the train’s overhead bin and took out a thick book, then sat back flicking through the pages stopping halfway the begin of it, putting a glance over the chapter.

  
  


Almost two hours later Jin had fallen asleep with the book on his lap, while Yi lied with her back on the seat with her legs leaned on the wall and her head against Jin’s body.

Yi’s smartphone started ringing waking Jin up, who just looked around in confusion figuring out, where he was.

“How many hours have passed?” Jin questioned himself and looked at Yi’s smartphone on his legs ringing while showing the current time and the phone number of the calling person.

“Uh hello?” Jin spoke as he answered the phone of his best friend. “Hi Nai Nai….Yi’s sleeping. Should I wake her up?”

“ _No it’s alright, I just wanted to know how she’s doing. I wasn’t able to talk to her the other time”_

 _  
_“She’s fine. She’s tired because uh, we we’re doing…..uh stuff yesterday”

_“What stuff are you talking about?”_

“We…..uh were on that science slumber party yesterday and...we did a lot of great stuff yesterday like…..how to analyze a virus or uhm… there were so many amazing things I’d like to tell, but I kind of can’t recall them at the moment,”

“ _You two can tell me that when you’re back,”_

“We will Nai Nai. I tell Yi, you have called”

“ _Thank you”_

“No problem….bye” Jin pressed the red button, then looked at Yi, who had her head lied against the side of his belly. Jin gazed at Yi with a charming smile and reached his hand down at the side of her back causing her to tilt and he retrieved his arm back quickly widening his eyes in surprise as she seemed to be going to wake up. Yi stretched her arms while yawning, then rolled her eyes up to see Jin’s face looking down at her.

“Uh did you hear the phonecall?” The medical student asked the raven-haired girl, which sat up with her back against Jin.

“Oh you were phoning?” Yi questioned earning a nod from the friend.

“Yeah, it was Nai Nai. She just wanted to know, if you were alright and I told her you were asleep and what we _did_ yesterday”

“Did she buy it?”

“She first seemed shocked about the way I said stuff. No idea, maybe I said it in a weird way”

“I can always talk to her later if we get to it”

Jin handed out the phone to Yi, but before she picked it up she looked up at Jin’s face before speaking to him again. “Did you try to locate Peng again?”

 _“Next stop….”_ The train conductor announced while Yi and Jin were chatting with each other.

“I had planned it after I would finish that one chapter on my book, but then I went onward and onward, thereafter I had fallen asleep and got woke up with your smartphone”

“Oh”

“It’s not bad” Jin mentioned watching Yi unlock her smartphone for him, then she pressed on the tracking app to locate Jin’s phone number, soon the phone of Jin was located on the map near him and Yi on the ground of the train station the train had stopped.

“He’s in this station” Jin mentioned getting up from the seat. “He must have left the train right now”

“What are we waiting for?” Yi asked exchanging looks with her friend, which got up racing along the corridor of the wagon at the exit, where a couple of passengers were leaving blocking Jin the sight.

“Peng! Peng!” Hollered Jin from over the crowd and jumped out of the train passing between the people. Yi followed Jin along with the Sheperd-Chow-Chow mix.

Jin pressed on the update button again that showed Jin, that he was near his smartphone, but he couldn’t spot Peng nor his accompaniment Dave anywhere. Jin pressed on the action that appeared beside the location button and it showed Jin three different options and he pressed the option to cause the phone to ring.

Jin heard a familiar ringing in the near and he spotted near a vending machine for sweets a boy around his age looking at his smartphone with a bewildered expression on the face from seeing the phone ringing.

“Huh?” The raven-haired boy noted as he saw the tan-skinned Asian boy in front of him staring at a smartphone, that looked exactly like his own smartphone. “Hey, where did you get that phone from?” Jin questioned earning a glance from the boy.

“Uh…..It was a birthday gift” The boy answered looking at Jin, who crossed his arms unimpressed.

“Funny, cause I’ve got the exact same phone cover and ringtone on mine”

“And what’s the matter?” The boy questioned. “There are thousands of people with the same phone cover and eventually one Hundred with the same ringtone,”

“But I bet no one has the same background picture, right?” Jin asked grabbing the phone of the boy pulling it near to his face to check the unlocked smartphone which revealed a picture of Jin together with Yi and Peng. “And I don’t think you would have me or my friends set as your background picture, right?” Jin asked the boy stern, which furrowed his eyebrow annoyed, then pulled his hand off Jin’s.

“That’s not…..how did you change my smartphone’s background picture?” The tall boy asked glaring at Jin.

“Hey, there’s no need to play innocent. I know how my smartphone looks like from both sides and if you really believe it’s your smartphone, which I doubt show me your contact list or the photo gallery”

“No I don’t….you need to respect my privacy, that what’s in here is none of your business”  
“Hey, before we continue this, let me tell you something” Jin started and pressed on the display of Yi’s smartphone and suddenly the smartphone of the other boy started to play a ringtone, making the boy wide his eyes and Jin smirk at catching the boy’s lie. “Got ya!”

“This doesn’t prove anything” The boy mentioned crossing his arms. “If you lost your smartphone, it’s your fault. Finders can keep it”

“That smartphone is under my name. Technically if you don’t give it back to the rightful owner he can prosecute you for that. It would be much easier for you to just give it back to the owner, wouldn’t it?”

“I already told you, it’s mine” The boy insisted making Jin growl at the comment. Jin’s face then changed as he got another plan in trying to get his phone back.

“So….if that’s your smartphone then, you won’t mind it then if we two go together to the train station police and clarify this situation?” Jin suggested observing the boy think about his plan, then he gazed at Jin with a smirk and pushed him away to be able to escape.

“Hey!” Jin shouted while Yi appeared together with Kai to help him up.

“He has got my smartphone. Your phone tracked it” Jin mentioned leaving Yi back, which watched Jin pursue the guy and as he grabbed the boy by his arm he got punched on his eye with the other teen’s fist, making Jin fall down.

“Jin!” Yi shouted seeing her friend sat up slowly, then Yi ran at the friend getting down on her knees to check him out. “You’re alright?”

“I’m good” Jin answered, then heard something hit the ground and he saw the smartphone he had tried to get back from the other boy on the floor lying with the display against the ground.

“Stay here, I’m going to get you something to cool your eye” Explained Yi racing towards a clothing store were a few young teenage girls were looking at the hanging clothes on the outside.

Jin sighed annoyed at what happened to him, then he looked at the phone on the ground and stretched his arm out trying to grab it, then he saw Kai pass beside him and try to fetch it with his mouth, but he couldn’t pick it up well and drooled saliva all over it and Jin moved closer to pick the smartphone up without forcing his arm for it and he turned around to see the smartphone’s display was broken. Jin looked at Kai, which looked at the boy neutrally and watched the boy sight, afterward Kai lied his head on Jin’s lap wagging with his tail and gazing at him with puppy eyes.

“Well, we’re not going to find Peng that easy now” Jin complained placing his hand on Kai’s back, hearing him whimper from showing him empathy for the medical student. Jin smiled a little and caressed the dog near his head causing him to wag happily with his tail. “Now in these few days, I can understand, why dogs are considered men’s best friend.”

Yi showed up with a brown silk scarf and bend down in front of Jin holding it over Jin’s face.

“Close your right eye” Yi ordered slowly covering Jin’s closed eye with the scarf, she had wet before. “Good”

“What are we going to do now’” Jin asked as Yi sat down beside him. “We can’t find now Peng if we got my phone back”

“We will figure it out later, first we need to get back to the trainnnn….” Yi started then looked back at the first railway, where they had left the train to see the train taxing out of the station slowly. “Oh no”

“I’ve got an idea. We just try to jump into one of the open cargo wagons behind the train” The Chinese friend suggested making Yi wide her eyes in shock.

“You want us to run behind the train and jump into it?” Yi questioned bewildered at Jin’s strange idea.

“It’s a crazy idea, but it could work”

“Okay?” Yi answered a little hesitant, then Jin grabbed Yi by her hand and pulled her behind him running along with her and Kai beside the platform behind the train. “Have you thought about how we get Kai on the train?”

“Can’t he jump?” Jin asked looking at Yi, which stared at him serious doubting on his plan. “I’ll see about that, first we have to try to get at least into the last wagon”

“Okay, I hope your plan works” Yi stated as she kept.

“Run faster. So you have it easier to jump from the platform into the wagon” Jin hinted watching Yi go faster approaching the open door of the wagon, where she could see hay cubes piled over the others around the interior.

“Jump now!” Jin yelled watching the girl take a leap landing with the upper part of her body on the wagon while her legs lolled out of the train, then she tried to push herself up and managed to get into the wagon, afterward she looked out at Jin, who was running together with Kai.

“We try on the ground,” Jin told Yi, then he went down from the platform at the earth, therefore he continued to follow the girl along with the mixed breed. “Hold your arms ready, I try to help Kai up”

“Are you sure, you can handle him?” Yi asked looking at the two.

“I think I have to jump first, then he might follow us” Jin mentioned earning a nod from the girl.

“Try it”

Jin avoided being close to the train to gain momentum, afterward, he ran at the entrance and jumped at the open space, hanging with his legs out of the door.

“I help you,” Yi said, then saw Kai jump at Jin’s back, causing the boy to slide away while in shock the dog hopped into the wagon landing beside Yi. “Jin!” Yi shouted watching the boy on the ground looking at Yi and Kai sitting inside the train looking at him. Jin’s face expression turned into a determinate one, then he got up to race behind the train wagon, where Yi looked out holding out her hand for him.

“I’m almost there!” Jin was closer to Yi, then Jin grabbed Yi’s hand and he jumped while Yi dragged Jin behind her into the train tripping over Kai, causing the two to fall on the ground while the dog stepped away from the two to avoid any accidents.

“You alright?” Yi asked getting off Jin a little abashed from the accident.

“Yeah” The friend answered. “Thanks”

Jin looked at Kai, which at the eye contact wagged with the tail and Jin gave the dog a thumb up, making the dog approach him to lick him on the face. “Ouch my eye still hurts” Jin complained, then Yi which had carried the wet scarf with her folded it together into a small lump, then she touched Jin on the shoulder to get his attention.

“Lie your head down” Yi ordered the boy politely, then he leaned his head down at her knees rolling his eyes up at the girl. “Now I can hold it longer,” Yi said holding the wet scarf over Jin’s eye.

“Is it blue?” Jin questioned seeing Yi shake her head. “It will be. I bet”

“You should have let him go next time. We need to find Peng first”

“I know, but since he somehow got the phone from Peng he should have known, where he is or when he saw him the last time”

“Oh…..well makes sense, why you were trying to convince him to give it back to you”

“At least we’re back on our train. The next station we get back to our cabin and stay there until the end. I just don’t remember, if the next station is in the evening or in the night”

“I don’t know it either, but you don’t have to worry about it now. Just relax for now and let this on your eye” Yi told the boy which nodded at the girl.

“Thanks Yi,” Jin thanked earning a simper smile from the girl, that sat there with the best friend lying over her lap cooling his eye off while she kept her eyes on it.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know if palisade is the right word for the sides, that hold up the bridge. If anyone knows the right word, I'd love to change it

****Chapter** ** ****1** ** ****3** **

  
  


The trio were still inside the cargo wagon in the next morning each of them lying on the top of a hay cube. Jin who lied with his back against the room turned his back down and felt down on the ground waking up with the fall. 

“Ouch,” Jin wailed, then sat up on the ground looking out of the open gap to see a green landscape with pine trees as the train was passing by. Jin leaned his back against the hay cub he had fallen off before and crossed his arms behind his head sighing. Jin glanced at Yi, which lied on the hay cube on the other side diagonally to him and across from the open space. Jin noticed the girl had been sleeping with her head over her arms, making him smile ardently and he got up on the top of his hay cube again now lying on his belly, then lied his cheek on the hay with his eyes directed at the open gap, where he could recognize that their train was slowly curving, soon he could see the sun far on the horizon being mirrored on the lake that appeared on the landscape. Jin was amazed by the sight he had at the moment, then he gazed up at Yi, which was asleep, then he reached his arm to her feet, but before he touched it he warped his face unsure if he should wake her up or not. Jin took his arm back and dropped it beside the cube looking down at the floor.

“Why am I hesitating?” Jin questioned himself, then looked back at the girl again, then he sat up looking at Kai, which was resting. “You’re acting like a real doofus Jin,” Jin told himself, then noticed Kai lifting his head up looking up at the raven-haired boy. “Sorry boy, I didn’t mean to wake you up” Kai gazed at the boy normally, then Jin moved closer on his cube to the dog. “Do you think I stand a chance with her?” Jin questioned the dog, which moved his ear forward at him, making Jin raise his left eyebrow unsure what that meant. “Yeah it’s weird, I don’t have anyone here to talk about this topic, beside you,” Jin told the dog, which put his tongue out for panting, then Jin held his hand in front of the dog for him to pick up Jin’s scent, then the dog approached the boy and lied his head down on his lap, rolling his eyes up at the boy.

“Nice boy” Jin complimented patting the canine on the head. “Maybe….I should give it a try in telling her how I feel. What do you think, boy?” Jin asked watching Kai lick his nose and raise his head up at Jin. “Well many things can go wrong on this trip…..I mean, I’m not frightened of spending the rest of the trip with Yi together and having the pain from her having reject me, if that would be the case….honestly that would be terrifying.” Jin mentioned with a shocked face at the thought of it, while Kai widened his eyes while holding his ears pointed. “Yeah, you’re right. Maybe I should wait a little longer?”

“Wouff” The dog barked loud.

“What? Bad idea?” Jin asked observing Kai look behind the boy, then Jin looked back to see the hay cube of Yi suddenly near the open door of the wagon setting the boy in panic. “Yi!” Jin screamed in terror, causing the girl to wake up and cry as she noticed, where she was and she could see their train was passing over a bridge, which was far away from a lake, where the bridge stood.

“Get away from there!” Jin yelled racing at the girl, which got down from the cube which from her jump slide out off the wagon falling down into the lake. Yi’s sock got stuck on a metal bar, that was attached to the body of the vehicle, then Yi tried to pull her leg up, but she couldn’t.

Jin grabbed Yi on the sides of her belly to help her up, but he also noticed Yi’s long sock was attached to the bar.

“My sock is stuck, I can’t get up” Yi warned, then Jin placed his hands down on her leg and tried to remove it from the bar.

“Why you’re wearing socks in the summer?”

“My feet are always cold” Yi mentioned watching Jin trying his best to help her out.

“Gosh, now there’s a thread attached to the bar” The boy complained, then Yi looked back at Jin to see how he was doing then she wide her eyes in shock. “Oh no”

“What?” Jin asked looking up at the girl.

“We’re going to collide with the bridge’s palisade!” Yi blurted out anxiously, then Jin looked at the side to see how close they were getting to the palisade, then Jin leaned his head down and bite the thread off managing to free Yi, then Yi looked to the danger zone along with Jin and the raven-haired boy pulled Yi on her arm to fall down at the lake along with him.

“Ahhhhhhh!” Yelled the two teens during the fall into the lake.

“Keeeeeeeeepp youuurrrr feeeeet dowwwwwnn!” Jin cried trying to stabilize himself in the air, so did Yi try which quickly got in the correct landing technique afterward both teens splashed into the water and Yi stuck her head out coughing hard.

“We did it Jin! We’re survived!” Yi cheered looking around her looking for her friend, which didn’t appear at the surface. “Jin? Jin?!?” Yi called for the boy, which she couldn’t spot anywhere, afterward, she stuck her head in the water to see Jin falling into the deep and Yi plunged into the deep following the boy, that sank toward the pole of the bridge and before he crashed against it Yi picked the boy under his arms, then bounced with her feet on the metal shoving herself away from there while carrying the friend with her.

Yi reached the shallow of the water, then she placed her arms around Jin, then Yi used her legs only to swim forward while carrying the friend.

“Hold on Jin, we’re almost on land” Yi assured a little worried swimming straight to the land, where she recognized a person sitting with a fishing rod at the edge of the lake. Yi saw the person and cried out loud to call the person’s attention.

“Help!” Yi exclaimed earning the attention of an elderly woman, that looked at the lake wondering from where the sound came from and saw Yi approaching. The woman dropped the rod and got up from the ground and observed Yi arriving with Jin, then the woman got into the water and helped Yi push Jin on the ground, then Yi gazed at Jin in shock from seeing him unconscious. Yi moved Jin’s head aside, then looked all over his body trying to figure out, what’s the next step.

“CPR! I need to do CPR!” Yi mentioned placing her hands together over Jin’s chest, then looked up at his face, which didn’t move a muscle yet and Yi gulped frightened about the situation.

“You have to thrust hard my girl”

“And…...what about mouth to mouth breathing?” Yi asked looking at the senior, which moved Jin’s head up a little then she opened the boy’s mouth and she leaned down at his face, then stopped and retrieved her head back.

“Wait a second,” The woman said placing her middle finger and her thumb into her mouth to remove her denture making Yi wide her eyes in surprise.

“Uh…..”

“Keep this somewhere my darling” The senior babbled and started breathing into the boy’s mouth, making Yi warp her face at how estranged she felt at seeing that. “Press on his chest” The woman ordered and Yi placed her hands over her friend’s chest and thrusts firmly on the body while counting under her breath. The woman observed Yi working on the chest compressions, then after a short break she did again the mouth to mouth breathing Jin starts to breathe and cough while the two rescuers watched the boy sat up while coughing hard.

“Argh damn it….” Jin complained holding his hand in front of his chest nearly ending in tears from the coughing, then he looked at a relieved senior and an overly happy Yi, which embraced the boy tight.

“Thank god you’re alright Jin” Admitted the girl lying her hand under his chin, while Jin looked with wide eyes in surprise at Yi’s reaction.

“Did you save my life?” Jin questioned the girl, which nodded.

“I was terrified as I saw you didn’t appear on the surface, but I’m so happy that nothing more happened to you” Yi confessed making Jin smile, then he looked down at his pants, where there was a denture standing.

“Uhm why is there a denture on my pants?” Jin asked, then the woman picked the denture up and placed it back into her mouth again.

“I couldn’t perform a mouth to mouth breathing with those in it,” The senior mentioned followed by a chuckle, making Jin wrap his face in disgust at the imagination of the woman performing CPR on him.

“Did she?” Jin asked his girl friend, which grinned at her friend in an apologetic manner and Jin twisted his face as he was about to cry, then he sank his head into the lake again, which confused the woman as she saw Jin doing that.

“What is he trying to do?” The woman asked looking at Yi, which shrugged her shoulders although she knew exactly why Jin was doing that. Yi pushed Jin by his collar away from the water, making him sit down on the ground still shocked about before.

“Just forget about what happened, just focus on your well-being now,” Yi noticed tapping on his wet shirt.

“I still need to get a check-up at the hospital”

“You’re crazy”  
“No, I’m serious. The first two 48 hours are critical after a drowning incident. I could get pneumonia, an infection or even a heart failure”

“Okay since you’re in the medical school and know about that we can pass by the next clinic, we find on the way” Yi promised the Chinese boy.

“Thanks,” Jin told the girl, then got up while helping her up gently.

“You two arrived at a good time here. I’ve caught fish to make my home-made fish noodle soup,” The senior mentioned holding up a Tupperware, where she had put fish in it.

“We sort of didn’t even have breakfast” Jin mentioned looking at Yi.

“I can make you two pancakes, if you want,” The elderly woman offered looking at the two teens. “You can dry your clothes at the fireplace a little”

“Too bad I left the suitcase in the train” Jin mentioned earning a nod from Yi, which then widened her eyes as she realized someone was missing.

“By the way, where’s Kai?” Yi asked and looked up at the bridge along with Jin.

“Maybe he stood back in the train” Jin mentioned seeing Yi sank her head down in sadness, then Jin placed his arm behind the girl. “We will get him back, don’t worry” Jin assured and looked at the senior while keeping caressing his crush’s back.

“Come on you two, I’m going to show you, where I live,” The senior asked walking further followed by the two teens.


	14. Chapter 14

****Chapter** ** ****1** ** ****4** **

Near the lake on the hills, the senior arrived along with the two friends in front of her small cottage house, which was all made of wood.

“This is where I have been living the past 30 years of my life” The woman explained. 

“You’ve been living there alone for thirty years?” Jin asked shocked at the amount of time she was alone.

“I’ve been living here with my husband, but unfortunately he passed away three years ago and I’ve been alone here since that day” The senior explained making Jin and Yi exchange sad looks.

“That sounds awful” Yi admitted remembering her mourning of her late father. “This month it marks four years, that my father passed away due to a heart attack”

“Oh,” The woman responded tragic at Yi’s comment. Jin listened to the two women in sorrow, then glanced at the older woman.

“Do you have a family?” Jin questioned seeing the woman shake her head.

“I and Chen could never have children because in my young years I had gotten cervical cancer and I had to get my uterus removed” The woman explained, which made Jin feel really sad.

“Oh no”

“That’s horrible” Yi mentioned earning a nod from the woman.

“That’s how life is my girl”

“If we could help you, we would immediately” Jin mentioned earning a nod from the woman.

“You’re quite a nice gentleman, my boy. It’s been a while I’ve come across children or teenagers around your two’s age”

“T...thanks” Jin thanked the woman a little embarrassed while Yi chuckled at seeing her friend turning a little red due to the comment.

The senior opened the door of her house, then got into it followed by the two raven-haired teens and they were in the living room which consisted of a small dining table for four persons, an old couch and a coffee table in front of it with a radio standing in the middle of it.

“Well I don’t have this modern stuff you all find in your places like a computernator or a keyless telephone or anything like that as you see”

“That’s fine for us, we can live without it for a while too” Yi mentioned making the dark-grey haired woman smile.

“Imagine my past me would be here right now”

“He would have gotten offended just by the way she calls the various devices” Yi mentioned making Jin laugh.

“I’d be crying about it” Jin added making Yi snicker.

“That would be hilarious” Yi confessed looking up at the boy still amused by them bantering together. Jin had his eyes glued on the girl grining at the friend, then both heard an echo from the outside and the elderly woman got out of the house to recognize a brown-colored dog run the hill up towards the house.

“That crazy wolf is back again” The woman mentioned looking back at the two teens, which looked at the woman, then Yi wide her eyes as she realized, what she was talking about.

“That’s not a wolf, that’s Kai!” Yi announced happy, then she stepped out to watch the Shepherd mix approach and get up on his hind legs placing his front paws on Yi’s hands. “There you are!” She happily stated watching the dog excitedly shake his rear while panting.

“Great he managed to find us,” Jin said stepping beside Yi to pet the dog on his back. “You know we would never let you back. I hope you know that” Jin told the dog, then Kai jumped at Jin licking his whole face with his large tongue. “Argh no, Kai, not my face!”

“Come Kai” Yi pulled the dog off Jin, then he sat beside Yi panting and watching the boy sat up in front of the two.

“That is one beautiful dog” The senior commented observing the dog look up at the woman, approaching her to sniff her.

“An old friend of ours gave his custody to me and he seems to befriend people really quickly” The raven-haired girl explained the woman, which patted the dog on the head giving him joy.

Yi removed her shoes, then took off her socks and wrung it out over the earth and placed them over the handrail of the small steps at the entrance.

“Come in you two, you can dry yourself inside the house” The senior offered earning a nod from Yi and she followed her into the house.

“Thanks, Mrs…...”

“Tsui. Shan Tsui” The gray-haired woman introduced herself to the teenager.

  
  


Later Yi stood in the small kitchen helping Mrs. Tsui making her soup and Jin was just finished putting the table in the living room. Jin leaned his back on the arc of the door watching Yi cut herbs on a board real quickly with the help of a knife, which the woman found astonishing, including Jin who widened his eyes at seeing how skilled Yi was with the knife.

“Can I help anywhere?” Jin offered stepping into the kitchen.

“It’s good for now Jin, thank you” Yi pointed out, then Jin looked from behind Yi at the cooking pot, where she dropped the freshly-cut herb into the pot and mixed it with the cooking spoon.

“It smells nice” Jin complimented sniffing from afar the scent of the meal, followed by Yi hitting him on his nose with the cooking spoon making him open his mouth in surprise at Yi’s deed. “Hey!” Jin complained making Yi smirk.

“Ops”

“Haha you’re so funny,” Jin said ironically, then looked down at Yi mixing the soup, then she took a spoon, that lied in front of her next to the stove and used the other spoon to put a bit soup on the soup spoon and held it up to Jin’s face, who raised his right eyebrow up smiling at the girl and he tasted it while getting burned on it. “Whoa!

“Uh you know the soup is hot, don’t you?” Yi questioned the boy, which nodded at the girl while warping his face.

“My bad” Jin croaked then Yi held up the spoon again, then Jin carefully blew at the soup and took a sip from it to check the flavor. “A very sweet taste. Is that honey?” Jin questioned the girl, which nodded.

“She’s got another type of honey, not the one Nai Nai uses at home” Yi mentioned.

“I still find it tasted good” Jin complimented making the girl smile.

“In about five minutes or more the soup will be done” Yi mentioned earning a nod from Jin, which walked out of the kitchen and from the outside he heard Kai barking which made Jin curious at what the dog was doing on the outside. He got out of the cottage to see Kai standing in front of a tree barking at a small chipmunk, that stood on one of the branches nibbling on a nut.

“Whatcha doing boy?” Jin asked watching the dog turn his head to Jin, then wag his tail. “You’re hungry?” Jin asked watching the dog jump and bark. Jin chuckled at the dog’s reaction as he spoke about food. “Don’t worry, we will get you something. Maybe fish, is that good?” Jin questioned watching the dog showing Jin his happiness with the tail. Jin got down on his knees and caressed the dog on his head.

“This is weird, but I actually really like you,” Jin said receiving gentle licks on his hand from the dog. “It would be so cool if Nai Nai or Yi’s mom would keep you,” Jin said making the dog sink his ears a little sad. “You don’t need to be sad, if you can’t stay with them we can always find you another home, where people will like to have a good companion like you” Jin assured the dog, which jumped at Jin’s arms licking him on his face, making him warp his face “NO!” Jin complained from the sticky tongue on his face, then he placed his arms in front of Kai’s chest, pushing him gently away afterward the Chow-Chow mixed breed sat down vice versa to the boy. Jin looked at the cottage, where he saw Yi carrying the pot to the table, then Mrs. Tsui held under her arm a book and opened it showing it to Yi, then Yi looked into the book and nodded at the woman telling her something. Jin smiled lovely at the girl, then looked back at Kai, which grunted shortly nearly sounding as he had just said a curiously _Oh_ at Jin’s behavior.

“Am I being obvious?” The Chinese-descendant boy asked the dog, which just sat there in front of him. Jin sighed followed by the dog dropping his ears at Jin’s state of the mood. “I love her” The raven-haired boy gushed in front of the canine, which moved closer to the boy and licked his nose and gazed at him. Jin had an idea and looked at the dog, which was gazing at him. “I’m trying to talk to you, as if I was talking to Yi, alright?” Jin asked watching the dog get up to make his way back to the house, making Jin wide his eyes in shock and step in front of the dog. “No stay” Jin ordered and the dog stopped moving and looked up at the boy. “Good boy, look you just have to listen to me. The only thing you have to do is listening to me. If I did good you can lick me all you want or if I do bad you leave okay?” Jin said looking at the dog hopefully this would work out somehow. Jin sat down in front of the dog, thinking of how he should start his practice then he snapped with his fingers coming to an idea. “Yi, I’d like to talk to you…..uhm how are you?………...That’s great, me too…..look uhm…..I’ve been wondering…..erm…..” Jin sputtered unsure if it would work out on a normal conversation. “Believe me, Kai, if she would listen to me like this, she would think I’m incapable of asking her or any girl out. She probably even would ask me how I even got on dates like that….Well I mean I asked many girls out at that time, but most of them were per messages. Some even asked me, because you know I was the most popular and most good looking guy back in high school and yeah….I don’t know, look I’ve never really have been in love with any of these girls I asked out on dates, I…..just wanted to get Yi out of my head since my chances stood real low after her father has passed away. But no matter how many times I tried, it never worked. I think…...” Jin sighed followed by Kai drop his ears in sadness.

From the cottage, Yi walked out with a small plate with the rest of the fish scales and meat, then stopped a few feet away from her friend as she observed him talking to the dog.

“Yi I…..would like to know if you were interested in going out with me?” Jin said making Yi drop her mouth in surprise at Jin’s conversation.

“Yeah I know this probably sounds ridiculous due to my past, but if it wasn’t you, I would probably be the same narcissistic jerk I was back there,” Jin told the dog while Yi behind him smiled enchanted by the boy’s words, then she rolled her eyes down thinking about it.

Jin smiled a little gently at the dog, which tilted his head at Jin’s talk bewildered, followed by the teenager groan annoyed.

“Come on, let’s get back,” Jin said making Yi wide her eyes stepping back as Jin got up from the ground, then he bumped into Yi letting her fall the plate on the ground spreading half of the rests on the ground.

“Sorry!” Both apologized, then Jin looked at Yi a little shocked.

“Where you here the whole time?” Jin asked Yi, which after a few seconds shook her head denying the actual truth to him. “Not even, what I talked about?”

“I just heard you saying something about you being a narcissistic jerk in the past. I wasn’t really listening” Yi lied without having a problem. “Was it bad?

“No, it’s just I…..spoke about, that…….you know…...the past…...if we didn’t leave Shanghai on that night we wouldn’t have changed for the better, you know” Jin tried to convince Yi to buy his lie, which she, of course, didn’t, at least in her mind.

“Alright. Hey, I came here to bring Kai his meal and it’s time for us to join Mrs. Tsui for lunch. You’re coming, right?”

“Sure, I’ll be coming right behind you” Jin answered making Yi smile charmingly at the boy and they head both back into the cottage.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my head, I believe Jin never had a real crush on all these girls he dated in the past nor had he a problem to ask them out, since most of the time it's per message and it's easier to be confident that way. This is just my input thou.


	15. Chapter 15

****Chapter 1** ** ****5** **

After lunch, Mrs. Tsui sat around the dinner table together with Jin and Yi showing them a book with pictures of her life before her husband had passed away.

“Were all these images taken by a polaroid?” Jin asked earning a nod from the woman. 

“Chen loved it to take pictures when we were out together going on holidays to different places” The senior explained. “We kept them inside this book so we could always remember, where we were together”

“My father had bought at one point an empty photo album, so we could take pictures on all the places he wanted us to see with him,” Yi told the woman. “We could never add any pictures to it, besides a few we took later with my family at the Leshan Buddha”

“Ah, the Leshan Buddha…..” The senior recalled surprising the two teens, then watched the woman pass a few pages forward stopping at one page with a few pictures taken by the late husband of Mrs. Tsui and one of them was from the couple, when they were younger standing in front of the tall statue smiling at the camera.

“I liked being there” Jin mentioned earning a nod from Yi.

“Some people say, that when they were looking for their inner peace, that’s the right place to find it. I had been tensed for a long while after finding out I couldn’t have children. I went there and I can’t explain it, I…..just felt better about it, I've found out life still goes on, you just need to focus on what you want to do with it” Mrs. Tsui explained the teens.

“Yeah. I still realized it a little later though, but I’m still happy I did it” Yi pointed out, then kept watching the book along with the woman.

“How far is it actually to the next hospital or clinic?” Jin questioned watching Yi facepalm.

“Right, sorry Jin. Your check-up” Yi apologized, then the senior pushed the book further and got up from the seat.

“I think it is about twenty minutes, by car” Mrs. Tsui answered.

“Could you drive us there?” Yi asked watching the senior shake her head.

“I’m sorry girl, but I don’t have a driving license. Chen was the one, who used to drive us”

“I don’t have it either, but I’ve passed the street code two years ago” Jin added.

“So you can drive?” The Chinese girl asked watching Jin roll his eyes up thinking about the question.

“I can drive a motorcycle, but I can’t promise I know how to drive a car, but it might not be a problem”

“Okay, I’ve seen my parents doing that a lot. It doesn’t seem that hard” Yi said earning a simper smile from the boy at her confidence on him.

“If you two are sure about it, follow me to the back and I hand you out the key to the car,” The woman said walking out of the cottage followed by the two friends and the dog to encounter on the back of the house an old white pickup truck with a short load area on the back.

“That truck must be valuable” Jin mentioned. “How old is it?”

“Maybe 60 or 70?” The woman estimated it, watching Jin gaze into the inside of the car.

“Doesn’t have a lot of features like the newer cars” Jin mentioned followed by Yi lean beside him to check the vehicle out.

“Well it doesn’t have navigation,” Yi mentioned. “We still can use our smartphone,”

“It doesn’t have parking sensors or automated lights. Our car has a lot of options thought” Jin explained looking back at Mrs. Tsui, which handed the boy out a simple key with a black plastic cap, then Jin stuck it on the lock to unlock the car. “Funny we’re so used on unlocking the car by just pressing the button on the car key. It’s a type of control, but around this size” Jin explained holding his thumb and index finger a little away from each other that it had space enough to put an AAA battery between it.

Jin opened the door and stepped aside, so Yi could climb up in it then. 

“Before we go, I want to thank you for the hospitality and for helping us out of the water this morning” Yi declared giving the woman her hand, which the woman gently held.

“It was my pleasure. I have never been able to talk to somebody in the last few months. Just once in a while, when I was out of here to get to the village to buy ingredients or anything else”

“Maybe you could...go out more often and I don’t know... join a chess club with other women or men around your age. Or a Mahjong club or anything else?” Jin suggested earning a nod from the woman.

“Maybe I should one day” The woman mentioned, then watched Kai sniff on her hand, making the senior smile and caress the dog on his head making him wag his tail with joy. “I will miss you too, little guy”

“He sure will miss you too ma’am” Yi added watching the woman lean her head on the dog’s, making Yi smile warmth about the scene. Yi looked at Jin, which stood beside the door, who had noted Yi’s face expression, that seemed to have anything in mind, which needed to be cleared.

“You’re okay, Yi?” Jin asked and Yi spoke at him.

“Wouldn’t it mind you, if we would let Kai stay here with her?” Yi asked. “I’m not sure if Nai Nai would like to keep him in our apartment. After all, bigger dogs are meant to have larger places to run around like here”

“You want him to be here with her?” Jin asked earning a nod from the girl.

“Both wouldn’t be alone and they would always have each other. Unlike us she has a lot of time to take care of Kai” Yi said earning a nod from the boy.

“I think Mr. Burnish wouldn’t mind it” Jin answered and the senior got up looking at the two teens.

“Mrs. Tsui, what would you say, if we would let Kai stay here by your side?” Yi asked surprising the woman at the question.

“You want to give me your dog?” The senior asked widening her eyes curiously.

“Well I and Jin are only during the vacation home with our parents, otherwise we’re all in Beijing at school for the rest of the semesters and our parents wouldn’t really have time to take care of Kai and I don’t think you will have any problems with him, he’s has shown to be very adaptable”

“This is strange, but I’m gonna miss him” Jin mentioned bending down on his knees to pet the dog. “After seeing him I actually was against him coming home, but I didn’t think we would bound that quick” Jin mentioned getting a lick on his face.

“Take good care of Mrs. Tsui little boy. You’re a great boy, we know that” Yi said fondling the dog on his head along with Jin seeing the mixed breed enjoying it a lot.

Yi climbed into the pickup truck, while Jin walked around the truck to enter into the driver seat and he put on his seatbelt and stuck the key in the ignition, then noted, that the car had three pedals under the steering wheel.

“Uh for what’s the third pedal?” Jin asked looking at Yi, which looked down.

“I think it’s for the gear shifting. I sometimes saw my dad using it to switch them”

“Okay,” Jin said turning the engine on, causing the motor to start making a noise, but then the car moved a little forwards turning the engine off, making Jin raise his eyebrows in confusion. “Huh?” Jin asked, then tried again causing the motor making the startup sound, but it turned off again.

“I think you need to hold your feet on the first pedal when you do that” Yi mentioned and Jin pressed the pedal down and moved the key again, soon he managed it and cried in success.

“Yeah baby!” Jin shouted taking the foot off the pedal, causing the car to turn off again. “Damn it!”

“You gotta hold it down” Yi mentioned, then took out her smartphone to look for a manual on how to put a car to work. “Then I think you somehow have to use the gas pedal, but I need to check it out, how”

“I’ve played all various car racing games apps, but the shifting looked very easy unlike here”

“Don’t worry, I’ve found a site with the instructions” Yi mentioned, then looked down at Jin’s legs. “Press with your left foot the clutch down, keep it like that and turn the engine on by rotating the key to start the engine”

“So just like before” Jin mentioned performing the task.

“Additionally you have to keep your foot down on the clutch,” Yi told earning a nod from Jin, which managed to turn the engine on, now it kept working, but now because Jin held it according to Yi the clutch down.

“When you’re ready to drive, release the handbrake” Yi instructed watching Jin look to the side at the lateral lever and Jin placed his hand in there.

“I know in the movies, they use this” Jin told the girl pressing on the button in front of it and shoving it down making a crack from having it unlocked. “Next step?” Jin asked, then adjusted the inside mirror while Yi read the next part.

“I wonder actually, most of the cars have these leather bag….ugh things around the gear lever and I wonder how they can see if they shift to the right number. Here we don’t have that, we can clearly see where we have to move the lever” Jin told the girl looking at the shift gear in front of the handbrake, which only was the iron with the traces of the numbers of shifts.

“You get used to it, maybe?” Yi mentioned “Press the clutch down and put the lever to the first shift, which already is. Okay, lift your foot from the clutch slowly and while you’re on it you press the gas pedal down slowly until you feel the….friction point of it. When you feel the car about to move, slowly remove your foot from the clutch and you should be moving on the first gear,”

The car started to drive forwards and at the dashboard, Jin could see he was passing over the ten kilometers and quickly reaching 2000rmp.

“Depending on the car, you gotta switch to the next gear between the 2300 and 3000. You put down fully the clutch until you feel the car disengage after you felt it you shift to the second shirt and slowly go off the clutch and normally press the gas pedal,” Yi explained watching Jin performing the next step carefully, afterward he made a loud engine noise as if it was going to race up, shrieking him.

“Whoa!” Jin cried, then he calmed down again, seeing the car was driving alright. “Hey, it went good” Jin mentioned observing the road, where the two were driving.

“Now you can shift to the next shift just as you did before to the third,” The girl told watching Jin gaze down at the gear shift and moved to the third gear, then heard Yi cry. “Look out!” Jin wide his eyes in shock as they had got out off the road nearly hitting a try, but Jin moved the steering wheel in time to avoid a crash.

“Sorry!” Jin apologized a little frightened about the situation, then kept his eyes in front at the road. Yi looked behind at the senior, which waved at her for a goodbye while Kai sat there panting. The girl waved back at them, then turned around back to Jin, which had his hands on the steering wheel holding it steady.

“You can for now on stay on this number, like this we won’t have to deal with any mishaps, but just in case I keep reading this cause I believe you need the clutch too when braking”

“Of course, Miss Yi” Jin said making Yi roll her eyes in amusement.

“You’re not doing it that bad, Doctor Jin” Yi joked. “Is this your first time?”

“Nah I secretly practiced it at home, hoping it would get better” The boy added making Yi laugh.

“Shall we turn on the radio?” Jin asked the girl, which nodded and turned the radio on by herself and it played a song from a famous Newarker rock band. The two started to chant together along with the refrain of the unknown song, which was easily learnable for the two due to consisting of uttered Na Na’s.


	16. Chapter 16

****Chapter** ** ****1** ** ****6** **

Dave and Peng were in Hotan at the train station sitting on a bench both eating a sandwich, they had bought at a kiosk nearby.

“You know, I’ve been thinking about calling Miss Burnish because of the trip” Dave begun. “We don’t have any trains heading to Nepal and we got two options only. We take a plane or we see if there’s a coach going to Kathmandu”

“How many hours are in front of us?” The child asked watching Dave shrug his shoulders.

“Well I know the flight is definitely the faster way, but I can check in on the maps” Dave answered typing down on his smartphone the location and the destination, then waited for it to load. “Okay there are no non-stop flights, at least from what I see here”

“Wouldn’t a direct flight be faster?” Peng questioned bewildered about, what the adult told him.

“Yes it would, but it doesn’t show it here. Maybe we would need to look inside the airport for answers. If we really have to make a stop somewhere and take another plane it sort of would matter for me, since in the airline and in the coach we would be more or less the same time in it”

“Okay, ask Miss Burnish, what she thinks we should do”

“Sure, that’s what I have planned” Dave answered searching through his smartphone for the number of Miss Burnish, then pressed the phone button to call the woman. “Good day Miss Burnish, it’s Dave”

“ _Hello, Dave. How is your trip going with Peng? I haven’t heard from you a while?”_

“It went well. Look we’re currently at the Hotan airport and we got two options. We pick an airplane, but we have no choice but taking a flight with a stop somewhere, then we can fly down to Nepal. The second option would be traveling by bus, which is most likely to take the double of time as the flights”

“ _I would suggest you ask at the reception at the airport of the next flights you’ve got to be able to get to Nepal. I’ve seen many flights, that had even two or three stops. Like one option you needed to go back to Shanghai, then, for example, you go to Hong Kong, afterward, you could go to Kathmandu in the end”_

“Yeah, that sounds a little complicated” Dave confessed. “I felt like going with a coach would be better, but also with the traffic jam and all…..we would take even longer”

“ _Okay I’d suggest you to take a flight then, it’s more expensive, but I believe it’s safer”_

“Great, we’ll be looking at the airport for the possibilities we’ve got”

“ _Good and by the way, have Jin and Yi somehow made contact with you?”_

“Uh no, I thought they were not supposed to come”

“ _Yes I know, but Peng’s older cousin had complained that I had let Peng go with you and they went together to look for you two”_

“Oh okay and where are they?”

“ _Urumqui was their last location I had been in contact with Yi. They must have passed Korla by now,”_

“Should we wait for them?”

“ _I think it’s not necessary for now. I will inform you when I’m able to speak to them again”_

“Okay, we keep informing you about the next steps, until we’re in Nepal,”

“ _Great, have a good time”_

“Thank you Miss Burnish. Goodbye,” Dave finished the call, then looked at Peng, which was looking at him with eyes wide open, making Dave raise both of his eyebrows up in confusion. “You’re okay Peng?”

“Are Jin and Yi coming?”

“She told me your cousin Jin complained to her, that it was a bad idea for us to go alone to the Himalayas and he’s now together with Yi looking for us”  
“They really traveling across China just because of me?” The child questioned curiously.

“Yes. That’s at least what I understood”

“Wow, I caused such a babel and they still went to look for me, even, if I’m on the other side of our country” Peng lamented dropping his head down, followed by Dave placing his hand on the kid’s shoulder.

“They’re your family Peng. They care about you. They won’t give up until they find you safe and sound” The man mentioned. “The soon they find you, they will be hugging you to death….well not to death, but they will hug you real hard”  
“I will be happy to see them too,”

“And what used my grandma to say….I don’t really remember how exactly she said it, but every time we went all together on vacation or a trip with the time we would all tie together like we just did during the trip if you think about the first day to now”

“I just found it a little strange, cause it was only the two of us and Jin or anyone else from my family wasn’t present. But with the time we really became good friends”  
“Yes and as soon as your friends arrive, you will also notice, that they have bound tighter and the same will happen with the four of us in the end….”

“Jin sure had enough time to do something about his crush on Yi. I bet”

“I think he might wait a little more. Take more time to think and to set a plan on how he should confess”

“Yeah might be true though” Peng agreed with the man, who nodded at the boy.

“Look after we’re done with our sandwiches, let’s ask the reception about the flights, then we inform Miss Burnish about our next step, alright?” Dave suggested the boy, that nodded at Dave’s suggestion.

  
  


  
  


Jin and Yi were driving in the pickup on a road, that leads the duo over hills near a long river that follows to the next city, which is still far away from the two friends.

“How long does it take again for us to reach the next city?” Jin asked Yi, which shrugged her shoulders, then took out her smartphone to open the navigation app on it. “40 Minutes”

“I think we might make it”  
“What do you mean?” The raven-haired girl questioned the boy. “Is it the fuel?”

“Yeah, it’s very close to the reserve. I think it’s enough,”

“We will see about that” Yi mentioned. “In some aspects, I don’t think it’s a good idea to cross the with none of us having a driving license”

“Marko’s ID faking skills would have been appropriate now”

“Who’s Marko?” Yi questioned the raven-haired boy.

“That first one roommate I had. He could professionally fake ID’s and other types of licenses. But he only could do that if the justice allowed it for certain cases, like this case at my school, where he had to go out as a medical student like the rest of us”  
“That sounds actually cool”

“Yeah it is” The boy agreed. Yi gazed out off the window to watch the landscapes they were passing by.

Jin took a short look at Yi, then observed her gazing out the window at the hills smiling amazed at how beautiful it looked in the daylight. The medical student smiled enamored about the girl, then gazed back at the road noticing he was in the middle of the road nearly on the wrong lane, then he gently moved the steering wheel to get back to the right side.

“I’ve noticed you were going to the wrong lane, Jin” Yi mentioned looking back at Jin, which grinned at her back a little bashed.

“I….was just testing you” Jin lied making Yi shake her head.

“Bad Liar,”

“Yes, I know that” Jin admitted. “You know I sort of never had the urge to lie unnecessarily. Probably one of the reasons, which makes me bad at lying”

“You made it well the last few times you tried to convince your mother and Nai Nai, that we’re in Beijing,”

“I think it only works sometimes when I have to get us out in trouble”

“Funny this trip I had to get you out of the water as you jumped down with me into the lake”

“Oh yeah…...oh I almost forgot about the hospital”

“Don’t worry Jin. The next city sure has at least one hospital”

“Yeah” Jin agreed watching Yi glance at the road in front of them, then he had an idea and whistled softly calling the girl’s attention. “Yi”

“Yes, Jin?”

“What would you say if I’d let you ride the car for a while?” The raven-haired boy suggested looking at the girl, who smiled a little at Jin’s idea.

“Are you sure, it’s a good idea?”

“I’ll be right next to you if you feel better” The friend suggested seeing Yi nod in agreement with the idea, then removed her seatbelt followed by the boy and she moved on the cabin passing in front to the boy, which moved his head aside to look at the road as Yi came closer to him afterward she sat down on his lap a little unsure about the idea.

“Place your hands on the steering wheel right under mines” Jin instructed the girl which complied with his orders placing them right under his hands. Jin slowly removed his hands making Yi wide her eyes at his deed.

“Please keep them there for a little while,” Yi asked a little tensed earning a nod from Jin, which placed them back, where he had them before.

“I’m right here,” Jin mentioned, then had another idea and slowly placed his hands over Yi’s making her blush a little red. “I help you a little, alright?” Jin asked earning a nod from the girl. “On long roads, you have try to keep your hands tight on the wheel. That’s easy to do” Jin explained the girl, then he slowly took his hands off Yi’s observing her have the steering under her control.

“You’re doing well” The boy complimented seeing Yi smile euphoric at her driving the vehicle, while Jin was responsible for the gas pedal. The two soon had in front of them an S-like curve, then Jin softly pressed the brake to slow the car a little down, then he observed Yi from behind her back and told her the next step.

“Now you turn the steering wheel a little to the left, then after the first part you move to the right side gently” Jin instructed the girl, which performed the instructions good enough, what Jin had observed through the side mirrors as the car was for about 2 cm away from the middle line and at the end of the second curve Jin pressed the accelerator down to gain a bit more velocity again.

“How was it?” Yi asked earning a proud nod from the boy.

“Very well” Jin complimented the girl observing her enjoying the joy of driving along with Jin’s assistance. "For now the road seems to go straight, but I'm still here for you" Jin mentioned making Yi smile as she kept her hands on the steering wheel guiding the vehicle.

  
  


  
  


The former zoologist Zara and the Hong Konger group she met up in Goldmud parked on a parking lot near a camping resort for tourists. Zara spoke at the moment with another leader of the science laboratory beside the tall vehicle, while the former goon leader from Mr. Burnish stood in front at the road of the parking spot watching a camping van pass by. The man looked at his watch, then sighed annoyed.

“Where are they?” The man grumbled, then kept looking at the entrance where the second transporter is supposed to appear.

Zara watched the other leader of the group show her a black case to her while looking around if they would be caught anyone else besides some of the group members spotting around.

“This is the only thing I could organize without any problem” The leader explained opening the box to show there a regular handgun in there with two small boxes with bullets to be used with the gun. “Are you sure this will be needed?”

“This is just in case our victim to lure the yeti decides to disobey it serves to warn him” Zara explained looking at the onyx-colored gun.

“I thought we had set as plan B the use of an electronic tagging on their feet?”

“Of course and we’re going to use it anyway. This option in here….” Zara said grabbing the gun to take a better look at it. “Is just in case it doesn’t work the first two ways”

“You’re not going to shoot at the yeti, right?”

“I’m not going to shoot anyone. The yeti will be shot down with the tranquilizers as we have planned before” Zara said stowing the gun in the case, then closed it.

“That makes me feel relieved then”

“I’m glad to know” Zara commented, then the former goon leader approached.

“The second group has arrived. They’ll be walking up here”

“Great, they can right after enter into the transporter to listen to the plan,” Zara told the man, which nodded and watched the woman walk away with the leader while the old partner of Zara waited for the arrival of the second group.

  
  


In the night Jin and Yi were in Aksu walking on the sidewalk together by the side of habitation buildings. Jin was carrying with a bit of difficulty a fuel canister and at the moment Yi had checked on the smartphone the map of the city, then placed it back in her pocket.

“We’re going the right way, it’s just straight on” Yi mentioned seeing Jin nod in growls. “Are you sure you don’t want my help?” Yi asked, then wide her eyes in surprise as Jin had let the canister fall on the ground.

“It’s fine Yi. I try to use both hands instead” Jin said earning an unamused facial expression from the girl.

“For sure?” Yi asked the friend. “We would be faster if we both would carry it”

“Well….you’re right” Jin admitted placing his right hand on the handle of the canister followed by Yi, then both lifted it up and walked further. “Why did I reject your help again?”

“Because you thought I didn’t believe you were strong enough to carry it”

“Right, it worked for like two minutes” Jin mentioned. “I need to start going to fitness”

“Didn’t you say that two years ago?”

“Kinda” The boy responded. “Why you’re asking?”

“Because I remember the last few times you said the same thing and it never happened”

“I think if you would ask everyone in school about it every second person would be the same”

“I believe you that way” Yi mentioned. “Uhm about the continuation of our trip...should we drive a few more miles or should we take a place to rest?”

“Maybe we should look first on, what are the surroundings for us at the moment. Cause I think after crossing the city there will just be the Taklamakan desert and we will have to pass the national road,”

“Okay,” Yi said looking at the road to see a tow truck driving on the street towing a white pickup truck, which looked very familiar to them. “Funny, that truck looks just like our pickup….truck….”Yi said stopping to talk, then looked along with Jin to the tow truck passing by and they could recognize it by the age of the body color, that it was theirs.

“Oh great, we were out of gas and these idiots decided to tow us the car away” Jin complained dropping the canister down, which pulled Yi down. “Sorry!”

“Maybe I should have stood back next time” Yi mentioned watching Jin shake his head.

“No, It’s better if we stick together” Jin pointed out. “Just in case something happens to you or me”

“Yeah you’re right” Yi agreed sitting on the canister, while Jin stood beside her. “Should I look for a hotel nearby?” Yi asked. “Finding another ride at this time is hard”

“If you don't mind,” Jin answered sitting down beside Yi, which had taken her smartphone out to look for a hotel. She noted Jin wasn’t happy about, what happened and Yi patted him on the shoulder.

“Tomorrow is another day, don’t worry” Yi mentioned trying to cheer the boy up. "We'll find another way out of here"

An hour later both achieved to check in a pension for the night and both entered into a room, together with a staff member, which carried a duvet and a pillow around.

“The only thing I can offer you two” The woman explained earning a nod from the two teens, while Jin yawned tiredly. “By any questions, I’m around,” The woman said handing Yi out the bed utensils.

“We solve this together don’t worry ma’am and thank you,” Yi said watching the woman turn the light of the room on and close the door.

“I sleep on the floor,” Jin said picking the pillow from Yi’s hands walking towards the bed followed by Yi, which watched Jin adjust the pillow against the board in front of the bed.

“It’s okay Jin, I take the floor don’t worry,” Yi said going down on her knees beside the boy. “You can take the bed”

“I don’t feel well if you sleep on the floor. Please take the bed”

“Nope I take the ground and that’s the end of the story,” Yi said lying her head down on the pillow followed by covering herself with the duvet, making Jin roll his eyes and make his way to the bed to open the cover. Jin then had an idea and took the pillow off throwing it off the bed, which landed on Yi’s legs.

“Don’t you need the pillow?” Yi asked sitting up, then she watched Jin come along with the bed cover and sit down on the side.

“So we’re even,” Jin said grabbing the pillow from Yi’s hands, which smiled astonished at the friend’s idea. Jin placed the pillow under his head, then shrieked as his head sank real deep into the pillow, making Yi chuckle.

“Well, that pillow needs to be replaced” Yi mentioned watching Jin jolting the pillow. “I think you need something under the pillow to prop up your head,”

“I don’t think we have something here. We had tons of clothing from me, but they’re on the train somewhere around China,”

“I could offer you to lie your pillow over my belly?” Yi suggested earning a bewildered look from the boy.

“What?”

“I mean I’ve got the pillow right here” Yi explained taking the pillow away from Jin lying it over her belly. “Then you just lie your head here” Yi instructed the boy, which then slowly lied his head back on the pillow, then smiled as he felt comfortable.

“Wow it’s actually better now” Jin mentioned looking up at Yi, which smiled amused at his comment, then she fondled with her finger through his hair. “Oh, I like this” Jin moaned making Yi chuckle.

“You know my mom used to do this a lot on my dad. The way he lied peacefully on her lap,….he sometimes ended up falling asleep”

“Well, this is kind of relaxing” Jin confessed making Yi smile a little lovely.

“Thank you,” Yi said as Jin pulled the cover over his body, while Yi patted his head looking up at the top of the bedroom, soon both managed to fall asleep.


	17. Chapter 17

****Chapter** ** ****1**** ** **7** **

Dave managed to organize for him and Peng a one-stop flight with the destination Sichuan and their goal location Kathmandu, which is in Nepal, where they’re then closer to the Himalayas.

Dave sat with Peng together in the terminal waiting for the boarding call of the receptionist of their gate.

“I barely have had any sleep last night” Peng complained as he yawned out of tiredness while Dave sat next to the boy staring holes in the air and drinking a cup of hot coffee.

“I know how you feel” Dave agreed taking a sip from the drink. “But this flight at 6:15 was the shortest one we could get. And it wasn’t cheap”

“Well, I’ll be hopefully sleeping the whole flight,”

“If you don’t, there are still movies or series airing during the flight to entertain you”

“Finally, the train rides were so boring. If I knew it would have been that boring I would have brought my portable console, my board games, card games, everything just to make the trip pass quicker”

“Just pray for good entertainment in the plane” Dave commented. “Otherwise stretch your legs and walk a few lines back and forth in the plane to keep your legs well”

“One thing I’ve got to admit Dave. I’ve never been so sick of sitting the whole time, than these last few days” Peng ranted earning a nod from the raven-haired man.

“Before we’re called for boarding, why don’t we go take a look at the plane, we’re going to board in soon?” The adult questioned the boy, which looked at the door of the gate and on both side tall windows were. On the right side, the gate corridor blocked the sight to the plane and on the other side, there was a free space, where they had a great view of the field of the airport. Peng got up from the seat, then walked at the large window and looked out at the airfield to see a few small jets parked far in front of the ground of the airfield. Peng leaned his face against the window to look at the plane, that stood on his side. He could see a part of the gate attached to the front door of the airplane and from behind the gate on the plane up to the tail it had a long horizontal red line, which got wider and the tail of it was fully red and had the symbol of the company of their first destination. Over the line, the airline name was tagged on it, including its Chinese variant. Another boy near Peng’s age approached the window to stare in awe at the sight of the plane he saw.

“Dad, dad, is that our plane?” The boy asked jumping up and down, then the father, which resembled an older version of the boy appeared and gazed at the airbus on the outside.

“Yeah, that’s our plane,” The father answered placing his hand on the boy’s shoulder. Peng smiled and walked back at Dave, which had just finished his coffee and squashed the cup.

“Our airplane is really big” Peng mentioned earning a nod from Dave.

“Hmm must be your impression. For the people, that are standing here to board I don’t think we’ll need a big one”

“Well I thought it was a big one”  
“Well from the outside most of them look the same if you want me to be honest. If you want, I can show you which magazine, that you find in all seats have a list of airplanes of this company and we can from there figure out how tall ours is”

“Awesome”

“ _Ladies and Gentleman, Flight SA146 with the destination Chengdu is now open for boarding. Please hold your boarding cards and passports or ID’s ready. Thank you”  
_ “So keep your ID ready, I’ll be taking out your boarding card,” Dave said taking from the pocket of the back of his trousers two folded boarding cards, then handed the boy out one of the cards, which was tagged with Peng’s name.

“You just have to pass the code over the scanner and hand your ID and the boarding pass to one of the staff members, which will control like the securities before your identity”

“Okay,” The child responded walking together with the man to a line, that started to queue behind the gate, that had been opened and the two staff men, that stood behind the gate started to let the first passengers pass through the turnstile with the help of their boarding cards codes.

  
  


  
  


Jin and Yi were on the other side of the city together in a gas station passing by the shelf with various snack bags on it and other types of food, that can be stored dry.

“Hey what about these butter cookies with chocolate chips?” Jin asked looking at the package. “They sure sound delicious,” Jin said looking to Yi, which had took out from the shelf a small bag with a variety of nuts in it.

“Hmm take two” Yi mentioned earning a nod from Jin, which took a second pack down and passed beside Yi to look on her side.

“I know this sounds a little weird, but I kind of enjoyed sleeping on your belly last night” Jin mentioned looking at Yi. “I thought that….you should know it. You did offer it to me after all,”

“It’s alright Jin, it was my pleasure” Yi answered a little abashed from the boy’s attention on her. “It also was very kind of you to sleep on the floor too, so that I wouldn’t be there alone and you on the bed”

“I did so because I would feel a bit bad if I had to,” Jin said passing his hand behind his neck. “I know you told me it didn’t matter for you, but….I just couldn’t”

“It’s alright” Yi answered with a smile, which Jin copied but a little lovelier. Yi passed beside Jin walking to the drinking section, where various sizes and types of drinks were sorted in the refrigerators. Jin sank his head down a little disappointed at Yi having moved further, then Jin crossed the corridor back passing by the car utensils and looked at the scent trees for the cars and saw a light blue one entitled with _Aftershave._

“There really is one for aftershave?” Jin questioned himself while chuckling. “I’ve seen it all”

Jin walked up to the pastry corner to a coffee machine, then picked out a middle-sized paper cup and placed it in on a dark red circle, which is the point, where he has to place his cup for the machine to be able to fill correctly. He pressed on the green button on the display and pressed on the milk coffee option to start the process.

Yi had picked up two large water bottles and placed them into the shopping basket and walked further to see Jin watch the cup being filled. Jin turned around while having his arms crossed, then he smiled at Yi, which smiled back at him, afterward, Jin turned around to take his cup away as it was finished.

Yi held her hand in front of her forehead sighing low.

“How is this possible after all this time?” Yi mumbled to herself, then a man with gray trousers and a similar shirt to Jin’s passed by the girl walking to the coffee machine taking a large coffee cup and let the machine fill his cup too with coffee.

“Nice shirt” Jin complimented earning a smile from the man, then the boy walked towards Yi, then he gazed into the basket with the nutriments they had chosen to buy. “Do you want to let out a coffee or tea?” Jin offered Yi, who shook her head.

“I’m fine, thank you” Yi answered watching along with Jin the man taking the coffee out, then the receptionist of the gas station passed by the man and gave the man with the shirt a handshake.

“Hey Wang, I haven’t seen you since last month, where have you been?” The staff asked the man.

“Vacation, but now I’m back in business and need to deliver a few cars down to Hotan” The man with the plaid shirt explained. “It will be only seven hours If I go before midday,”

“Great did you already have your lunch or do you want to buy here anything?”

“One salad would be not bad” The man answered. “I’ve managed to get the mini-fridge fixed in my truck”

“That’s great, I’ll show you some salads, that are new in our store,” The man said walking to the refrigerators along with the trucker.

Yi went to the cashier, then waited for the man to get back. Jin appeared with a pack with baby wet tissues and put it into the basket, Yi was carrying and the girl furrowed her eyebrows confused about it.

“For what do you need them?” Yi asked.

“In case we get dirty and we don’t have water to wash our hands” Jin answered.

“Oh, nice thinking Jin” Yi agreed placing the basket on a sill in front of then took the wet tissues pack out along with the cookies, followed by Jin placing his coffee on it, followed by the mixed nuts and the water bottles. “Oh thank you”

“No problem,” Jin said watching Yi store the basket on the ground on top of a cart, that is specified to collect the shopping baskets. Jin looked around and spotted on the side three rows with different cloth bags with a zip on it and Jin picked the middle one and placed it on the desk in front of Yi.

“My mom uses them at shopping when she walks from the store instead,”

“Yes for the water bottles they’re better…..and hey maybe we could take a third water bottle….you know, just in case” Yi mentioned earning a nod from the raven-haired boy.

“I can get it if you want to?” The boy offered the girl earning a nod from the girl, then he ran off to the refrigerator.

The trucker appeared standing behind the girl with only a large red water bottle and two small packs with pasta salad followed by the staff walk to the other side of the cash register. Yi noticed the man only had two articles and shoved hers to the side.

“Sir you can go first, I have to wait for my friend to bring something” Yi offered watching the man nod.

“Thanks, that was not necessary” The man thanked handing his bottle out to the man and the salad. “Oh, and I used gas pump 4” The man mentioned earning a nod from the man.

“That will be 1393,33 Yuan,” The man asked and he handed out his bank card and introduced it into the card reader to pay. “You think one water bottle will be enough until you’re in Hotan?”

“I’ve got another one, don’t worry” The trucker commented, then Yi looked up at the TV screen above the cash register local and saw on the third corner of the surveillance camera a large flat nose truck standing with a car on top of the vehicle’s roof. Yi watched over the window of the gas station to see the large trailer carrying a few cars, which gave Yi an idea.

“Have a nice trip” The staff wished, then started to scan the articles of Yi, while Yi collected them into the bag Jin handed her out moments before. Jin appeared with two water bottles and placed them on the counter and ran back again, leaving Yi questioningly back.

“Where are you going Jin?” Yi barked then saw Jin come back with three rolled-up blankets two red and the third one in yellow and he added them to Yi’s list and added a second bag on it. “Why are you taking them?”

“I can take one of them free if I pay for the first two” Jin explained. “They’re so fluffy”

“Alright, help me pack. I found us a ride to catch” Yi mentioned watching Jin help her.

“That will be 374,33 Yuan” The cashier announced, then Yi took out from her wallet, she had on the back of her pants and took out a few green bills and a red one and handed it out to the man, which afterward gave her a bill and a couple of coins as the exchange. “25.67 you get back, Have a lovely day”

“Thanks," Yi said letting everything fall into the pocket for the cash, then she placed it back taking the bags, then she ran off, followed by Jin.

“Hey wait!” Jin exclaimed, then got thrown on his arms one of the bags. “Where are you going?”

“You see that trailer with the many cars on it?” Yi asked looking along with Jin at the two-leveled trailer with various vehicles fastened on it. “That’s our ride to Hotan”

“What?!? Are you crazy?” Jin hissed at Yi’s idea unpleased about the idea.

“We take the ladder there behind the entrance to the cabin” Yi pointed to the end of the trailer, that was attached to the truck, making Jin gulp. Yi reached along with the boy the ladder, then the put the bag over her shoulder and climbed the ladder up to the top, while Jin looked around for any witnesses, afterward he saw Yi on the top leaning with her back against the car moving to the back of it and hide in front of it. “Get up Jin” Yi ordered the boy, which swallowed hard and climbed up at Yi, then he threw the bag at Yi and Yi reached her hand to the boy to help him up and to hide behind the onyx-colored sedan.

“See, it wasn’t that bad” Yi commented earning a nod from Jin, then she stepped on an open gap from the trailer nearly falling off the truck, but Jin pulled her back at him, which bumped into his chest. “Whoa!” Yi cried, but then sighed in relief as Jin helped her. “Thanks, Jin” Yi thanked embracing him for short.

“I knew it was dangerous” The boy joked, then Yi placed her hand in front of his chest shoving him back shrieking the boy. “No, no, no, no, no!” Jin cried, then Yi grabbed him on the lapels of his shirt watching him in fright with his eyes closed, then he opened his left eye and groaned at Yi’s deed. “Yi...”

“You didn’t think I would do that, didn’t you?”

“Sorry I panicked” Jin wailed watching the girl shake her head playfully.

“Okay, we’ve got here a good space to sit, the bad part is just this gap here”

“A metal board or a wood board to cover it would be helpful, but we don’t have one” Jin mentioned sitting on the side of it while Yi sat vice versa to the friend. “My hair is starting to look like that time I ran all over the forest to look for you and Peng,” Jin mentioned trying to adjust his hairstyle by looking at his reflection on the car bumper.

“Why don’t you let your hair like it is and avoid using hair gel?” Yi asked the boy.

“I don’t know, after joining school, I had to keep my hair up and I started to use the gel again” Jin explained. “Why are you asking?”  
“I had just remembered it” Yi answered. “You still look great in both ways thought” Yi commented making the boy smile.

“Out of the two styles, which do you like to see more on me? With gelled hair or natural?”

“Well it’s funny to admit, but for me you turn out really handsome if you keep your hair like that”

“You mean without the gel?” Asked the Chinese boy earning a nod from the girl. “Thanks”

“Mostly I adore it, when your hair strands look over your eyebrow like this” Yi explained helping Jin with his hair putting it slightly over his eyebrow and Jin looked at the reflection again, then smiled angelically. Yi crossed her arms over her shoulders gazing at her childhood friend, then she felt the trailer shake a little as the trucker had turned on the engine of the truck.

“We’re going to be what…..seven hours on this?” Jin asked watching Yi shrug her shoulders.

“That’s what I heard before” Yi answered watching Jin take out one of the blankets and remove the band from it.

“I think it was a good idea from me to buy these. I think the ride is going to be a little windy for us” Jin said giving the girl the red-colored blanket, therefore he took one out for him and repeated the same task he did on the previous blanket.

“I hope I won’t get sick from the ride. We don’t really have the nicest view” Mentioned the Chinese girl, making Jin chuckle.

“Well I’ve got a nice view here at a pretty girl” Jin jested with a wink, making Yi smile bashfully and look away from the boy. Jin leaned back on the cooler of the car behind him to observe the truck leave carefully the gas station entering the road heading to the national highway.


	18. Chapter 18

****Chapter** ** ****1** ** ****8** **

In the evening the truck, where Jin and Yi had climbed up to head to Hotan had arrived the city passing by an industrial zone with various warehouses. Yi lied against the car bumper covered with a blanket having a nap and Jin on the other side was awake but exhausted from the trip, afterward, he noticed the truck turn on a curve to the side, where it went on a street full with parking spots, half of them had cars parked on there and Jin noticed a board with a train symbol pointing 800m to the right side. Jin looked at Yi and reached his arms at Yi’s shoulder tapping her on it for a while until she woke up. “Yi” Jin whispered watching the girl move her head at him a little tired. 

“Are we there yet?” Yi asked earning a nod from the boy.

“Yeah and in 800m there’s a right turn for the train station, but I think the truck won’t go there” Jin pointed out making Yi nod.

“Okay, we gotta get out of here” Agreed Yi getting up with the help of the car cooler behind her. Jin did the same, but a little shaky and he lied his back down on the bonnet looking a little tired. “Are you alright Jin?” Yi questioned the boy, which shrugged his shoulder.

“I did something, that if the trucker sees would get me killed” Jin mentioned, then Yi looked down to see on the first floor of the trailer vomit on the windshield of a coupe.

“Ewww….. I would understand him” Yi agreed. “Did you really puke that much?”

“Uh no, I puked about three times during the ride” Jin explained. “And I believe the first one, must have gotten dry with the time”  
“Can you stay on your own feet?” Yi asked, then noticed the truck stop as in front of it was a traffic light and another truck was coming from the other side and stopped beside the cabin of the truck, where Jin and Yi sat.

“Quick Jin, that’s our chance to get down of here” Yi warned the friend as she saw the other truck driver had opened the window to chat with the other driver. Jin held his hand out to Yi helping her come to his side, then she moved beside the car to the ladder and descend half of it, then watched Jin move slowly by the side of the car to the ladder then got on it following Yi down at the ground and both arrived the ground.

“Oh, I’ve forgotten our bags” Jin mentioned, then Yi jumped up at the ladder climbing them up to get the bags back, which she threw at the ground next to Jin. “Hurry up, it turned green” Jin mentioned seeing the traffic light turning green and Yi looked down at Jin, then took a leap causing Jin to widen his eyes in shock and open his arms to catch the girl, but due the girl having jumped straight towards him he got bumped on the floor by the girl.

“Why did you jump?” The raven-haired boy asked still with widened eyes about what happened.

“It was the fastest way” Yi answered. “Excuse me” Yi apologized, then heard the truck brake and both looked back at the truck to see the driver get out of the truck to see the two teens on the other side of the street together.

“Were you two on my truck?” The driver asked and Jin exchanged looks with his childhood friend, then glanced at the cars and noticed the slime from Jin’s vomit on the coupe and widened his eyes in shock.

“Let’s go!” Yi shouted and Jin dropped Yi on her feet and ran off with her.

“Hey!” The trucker hollered seeing Jin and Yi escape from the man passing behind the parked cars, continuing to run behind the cars. Yi looked back while running noticing the man throwing his arm up annoyed, walking back to the driver cabin of his truck and Yi sighed in relief and looked at Jin, which accompanied the girl right beside her.

“Thanks for catching me”

“No problem” Jin answered with a cheeky smile. “We’re like partners in crime, but you know…..we don’t really do crimes”

“But I brought us in much trouble when we were kids remember”

“Yeah..... oh, I still haven’t forgotten about the clogged toilets in the men restroom at my grandparent’s coffee shop.

“I somehow knew you would have said that, Jin”

“Hehe” Jin chuckled reaching along with the girl a parking lot with fewer cars parked on them and on the train station was a train about to leave.

“If we didn’t miss the train, this is the station we would have left in the end of our ride” The Chinese girl mentioned.

“So that means we have to look for another way to Nepal,”

“Yeah”

“And have you got any idea?” Jin questioned. “I don’t see any coaches or cabs here”

“Let’s try to look if there’s an airport or a coach bus center,” Yi told the friend, which looked down at her hands typing down on the maps for a coach center, then waited for the page to load.

“There’s a coach station five miles away from us” Jin read on the app.

“And five more to the airport after that point,”

“Where should we try first?” Questioned Jin. “The coach center?”  
“Yeah we could ask there for information, then we see about the airport” The girl answered.

“I think going with a coach will be longer, cause they’ll need to do a break I think. At least we would be 40 hours or 50 on the trip,”

“Aren’t there two drivers?”  
“Yes, but I was referring to breaks they have to do once in a while, so all can leave the coach for a while and stretch their arms, legs and catch some fresh air” Jin explained. “I was with my class on a 16-hour trip to another city and we stopped for about three times,”

“Ah, alright”

  
  


The duo had made it in time to catch the ticket corner open and the vendor looked up on his computer for tickets.

“There are five free spots on our next coach, which departs in the next 85 minutes,” The vendor said and Jin looked at Yi, who stood next to him.

“What do you think?” Jin asked. “Should we take this one?”

“I’m okay with it” Yi answered, then Jin nodded at the man, which saved the tickets for the two and printed them out.

“That would be 560 Yuan” The man announced. “Do you split or pay separately?”

“Can I pay with my debit card?” Jin asked earning a nod from the man. “I do for both”

“Why are you using your card, if you can use cash?” Yi asked.

“I want to keep the rest of the money in case of food” Jin answered. “I asked Miss Burnish, if she didn’t mind, she would pay for me the bill of what I spend during the time we were on this trip”

“Okay,” Yi answered, then after Jin stored his card back he received the tickets.

“Have a nice trip” The man wished, then Jin walked together with Yi at the parking zone of the coaches, seeing only two coaches present and one of them the drivers were walking alone in the inside checking all the seats from its back.

“I think one of them could be our ride” The boy pointed out observing the staff inside the coach along with Yi. Jin sat down on the ground opening the shopping bag taking out a cookie package, then opened it to take out a square-shaped cookie to eat it.

“Eat slowly to avoid your stomach reject the food” Yi warned the boy, which nodded at the girl and sat there mute, therefore Yi took herself a seat beside him, placing her hand on his shoulder. “You’re okay?”

“Yeah I’m just trying to take it slow” Jin answered taking another cookie, chewing it slowly as Yi kept sitting beside him observing his state.


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Queen Elsa decided to put cold on me -_- I'm writing in mid-breaks during the day on moments I feel alright to do something on the laptop.

****Chapter** ** ****1** ** ****9** **

Dave and Peng sat on the next flight to Kathmandu beside each other looking at the screen in front of their seat at the current Infos of their flight. 

“And now 3 hours and 49 minutes to go” Peng mentioned as the screen showed the current location of the plane and the distance.

“You’re not watching anything?” Dave asked the boy,

“There are so many movies and shows I want to watch, but I can’t decide” Peng explained sliding down the list.

“What if you pick the first one in line, afterward you pick the second one and so on?”

“That’s kind of not fair. I would just pick the ones starting with A”

“Okay…...what about you close your eyes and you randomly pick out a movie’” Dave suggested, then Peng nodded at the idea and closed his eyes moving his hand over the screen, afterward he tapped on a image with a blue-skinned man in a black tight suit. Peng opened his eyes and smiled.

“Oh I choose a good one,” Peng said watching the intro of the company appear on the screen, then Dave gazed at the screen to see a baby with a blue skin complexion.

“I think I’ve seen this on cinema when I was 16” Dave mentioned. “Was really entertaining”  
“I agree,” Peng said then stopped the movie and opened his seatbelt. “I need to go to the toilet. I’ll be right back” The child told Dave, which nodded, therefore, the boy walked the corridor of the A340 back queueing behind two women, that were waiting for the restrooms to get free.

  
  


Yi and Jin sat in the coach with the destination Kathmandu both watching a movie, that aired during the ride.

“Oh no, not him” Jin complained covering his ears as the credits of the movie came with a pop song on it.

“What a drama Jin. When was the last time you heard him singing?” Yi asked the boy, which rolled his eyes bothered with the question.

“I don’t know it, but it was better for me without it,” Jin confessed picking a water bottle, that stood in front of his feet to take a sip.

“I haven’t noticed you going to the toilet for the whole ride. How can you hold it that long when you have almost drunk the whole bottle all by yourself?”

“Last time it was about 8 or 9 hours ago when I went to the toilet. You were sleeping”

“Alright, was just wondering”

“We guys have a little larger bladders, as the women as we don’t have inside us the uterus,”

“Right, I’m aware of that” Yi stated, then the bus driver picked up his talkie turning it on to announce to the passengers' news.

“ _Ladies and Gentlemen, we’re going to pull out at the next camping place out for a 30-minute break. Be aware, that our ride starts punctually at 18:50 again to be here or inside the coach at that time. The Toilets and the coffee machine can still be used during the break and outside on the camping lot contains a few toilets too, in case of longer waiting time”_

“The toilet is free at the moment, I’ll be going” Yi mentioned earning a nod from Jin, which watched Yi walk across the corridor of the bus and disappearing at the stairs, which head to the exit. Out the window he watched a family share a table where they were eating dinner. Jin got up from his seat and took out from the overhead bin the shopping bag, which had the covers rolled up together in it and a few boxes with eatables in it.

Jin placed the bag over his shoulder crossing the corridor to the stairs, where Yi had passed before to go to the toilet and Jin stopped on the front of the entrance on the counter, where the coffee machine of the bus stood and several paper cups in different sizes. Jin picked two large cups and placed them inside the bag, then waited for the coach to stop.

Yi came out of the toilet, then encountered Jin waiting with the bag at the exit.

“Are we stopping?” Yi asked watching out of the window at the of the door at the bus turning into a free parking spot for larger vehicles.

“I don’t know, but are cereals enough for us as dinner?” Jin asked seeing Yi shrug her shoulders.

“For the rest of the trip, it should be enough. I think we’ve only got about 14 hours more or less until we’re in Kathmandu” Yi answered. “In Kathmandu, we can see, if we eat at least something warm and healthy,”

“You know what I miss?” Jin questioned the girl. “Your grandmother’s pork buns”

“You’re not the only one Jin” Yi mentioned, then the door unlocked itself and opened up, then the two friends left the coach followed by a few other passengers.

The two stopped on the grass, then Jin took out the cotton cover placing it on the floor like for a picnic.

“We better leave the table for others, which came with their family” Jin mentioned taking a seat on the cover along with Yi, then she took out the two cups he took from the coffee corner before.

“Well cornflakes would be more enjoyable to eat if we had milk, but the bus only has capsules of cream” Jin mentioned taking out two cornflakes boxes. “What do you prefer? Wheat semolina? Honey or there’s a chocolate one inside the bag”

“I’m good with honey” Yi answered, then Jin stored the wheat-flavored cereals back and opened the cornflakes package with the honey flavor up, then emptied a little on the large coffee cup, then for himself too. Afterward, the two picked up their cup and smacked with it against the other and Yi picked out a few cornflakes to eat while Jin placed the cup to his mouth to drop a few flakes into his mouth to chew them. Yi chuckled amused by the boy, continuing eating from the cup.

“Do you think we will make it in time to see Mr. Burnish’s ashes being scattered off the mountain?” Yi asked the friend, who swallowed down his food.

“We’re definitely going to make it. The other day Miss Burnish had mentioned, that Peng and Dave were in Hotan and we’ve been there about a day later. We could eventually even catch them before they head to the Himalayas,”

“That be good”

“Yeah it would” Jin agreed, then he thought about his cousin, then gazed at Yi, which had dropped into her mouth a few more cereals. “Do you think Peng will be angry if he sees me or happy?” Jin asked as Yi looked at him as he was questioning her. “Like I have been a little too strict towards this situation with Mr. Burnish’s last will and us all going to the Himalayas to scatter his ashes.

“I know you were worried since us three alone could lead us to trouble and I know Peng won’t simply hate you for the rest of his life, because of your brotherly instinct towards him”

“Now after this trip, we got at least to know a few more places and people ….Well we didn’t quite enjoy anything at all, cause we spent the major time traveling inside public transportation and us overnight at the hotel,”

“When we’re together with Peng and Dave we might have more time to have better look at those places again. They’re not as astonishing as the ones my dad had collected postcards from but still amusing to know about them,”

“Have you thought about passing by these places again?” Jin asked emptying the whole cup in his mouth. “Like with….your family?” Mumbled the boy.

“Yeah, we only managed to get to see the Leshan Buddha last summer. Nai Nai and my mom were really amazed by the statue and….we couldn’t help but share a tragic moment there together thinking how it would have been if my father was here” Yi mentioned having a tear running down her face. Jin noticed it, then sat closer to her placing his arm behind her back to comfort her.

“He would have loved it Yi” Jin implied. “I even believe he was up there watching over you seeing how much you three had grown closer together and the same with me, Peng and you”

“I know he’s up there watching down at us right now, seeing how our journey is going”

“Yeah” Jin agreed, then widened his eyes as Yi had leaned her head under his neck while looking up at the sky, which was slowly getting darker.

  
  


  
  


Near the departure time, Yi stood beside the bag drinking from her water bottle observing almost all passengers, that were from the same coach as Jin and Yi returning into the vehicle, then Yi looked at a small cottage signaled with restroom signs at the door. Yi walked towards the lodge to look around for Jin.

“Jin?” Yi called approaching the first closed toilet door, then she knocked on it, waiting for an answer then she opened it to see the room was empty, all she could see was a squat toilet. “Jin, are you alright?” Yi asked knocking on the second door opening it up to catch another empty cabin. Yi sighed and moved to the next cabin, then opened the door hitting with it on something, then she rolled her eyes down in shock to see Jin lying on the ground and the door had touched him on the back.

“Jin!” Yi cried trying to squeeze through the gap of the door, then noticed down at Jin’s feet the floor next to the toilet was wet and it had Jin’s shoe trail tagged on it and the left trail was smudged alluding that the raven-haired boy had slipped on the floor and hit his head somewhere. Yi crouched next to Jin lifting him up leaning him against the door, then slapped him gently on the face trying to wake him up. “Jin please wake up” Yi begged slowly managing to bring Jin out of the swoon. “Jin, can you hear me?” The girl asked seeing Jin open his eyes slowly to see Yi in front of him.

“Wha…..what am I doing here?” Jin asked passing his hand behind his head, followed by a groan. “Ouch, where did I hit my head?”

“I think the footprints there tell you, you slipped and hit your head on the lavatory or the wall” Yi explained showing Jin the prints on the floor.

“I should have peed in the coach or at the outside like anyone else” Jin complained, then Yi widened her eye in shock.

“The bus! We’re gonna miss it” Yi exclaimed, then got up and held her hand out at Jin to help him up slowly. “You’re okay?”

“I’m good, let’s go” Jin continued leaving the toilet along with the girl, then they saw their coach disappearing continuing their trip without them. “Wait! We’re here!” Jin shouted running on the side road, but it wasn’t worth it cause the coach was too far for them to reach it. “Damn it!”

“Oh great, how are we now going to reach Kathmandu without a bus?”

“If I knew I would hit my head back in the restroom and make us lose the coach, I would have waited in it instead until the toilet there was free” The raven-haired boy complained.

“Just forget about it Jin, it happened. I just came along to see, if you were feeling alright or not and good I did come”

“What are we going to do now?” Jin asked the girl. “I don’t know how high the chance is for another coach or anything else here to stop”

“It’s almost night, I don’t know, what’s a better idea, wait here until other people arrive or we keep going and hope to get picked up by people” Yi mentioned watching Jin use his smartphone to find out, where the two were located at the moment.

“Here is a national park, but…..that’s in India. That’s not the way we have to take”

“Jin, do you remember at the begin of the trip it showed us, that we were going on the 219 to Nepal and we would cross Bhutan before we arrive in Kathmandu”

“Yeah, that’s the only road we have to take to get down to Nepal. I can’t clearly tell to 100%, that this is the only road on the map thought”

“This sounds crazy, but if the road really is only that road we have seen on the coach and on your phone. We could walk along the road as far as we can and take a break on the hills before we continue?” Yi told the boy, which wasn’t really liking the idea. “We would be save from any harm...or not?”

“I feel unsure about that idea with spending a bit of the night on the hills. There could be mountain lions around here and we could be attacked”

“Jin you’re silly. There are no mountain lions in China,” Yi assured the boy. “But I think it’s better for us if we stay here waiting for the next day and we go on in the early morning”

“Or we still can go both together and one of us sleeps first for one or two hours, then we change and after that, we keep moving on” Jin suggested. “In case of something, one of us wakes the other up and we try to deal with that situation”

“Okay, and why do you suddenly agree with it now?” Yi asked curiously.

“There’s no danger as you’ve told me now,” Jin answered. “And I believe not everyone would stop right at this camping place, maybe somewhere else in the front….or when we’re out there and watch a car on the road we can also ask them for a ride”

“Okay, I believe we will have a chance at some point to find a ride” Yi added. “I mean who would let two people deal with their problem in the middle of nowhere?” Yi asked earning a nod from Jin.


	20. Chapter 20

****Chapter** ** ****20** **

After almost two hours Jin and Yi had stopped walking on the side of the street to take a break. 

“Brrr” Yi replied as she stopped along with her friend, then Jin dropped their shopping bag down and took out a cover to place it over her back.

“It’s starting to snow” Jin mentioned looking up at the sky to see small snowflakes fall down from the sky. “Good we still have these covers to protect us….but I just don’t know for how long”

“I think now it was a bad idea to leave the camping place”  
“It’s just snow. We can deal with it. If we need to walk the whole night to avoid being buried alive in the snow, then we do it”

“Good”

“We’re both together in this and I know together we’re going to manage this” Jin assured earning a smile from Yi.

  
  


The weather ratio started to get worse with the time causing a strong wind to blow against the two friends, that tried hard to fight against it and move forward.

“F….fuck!” Jin barked overwhelmed, then got hit by Yi’s cover over his face and stopped along with the girl. Jin took it off, watching Yi freezing, then he helped it placing it around her back and tied it around her neck. “Here,” Jin said, then adjusted the cover he placed around his body to avoid freezing, then tried to walk along with Yi.

“Crap!” Yi gasped as the wind blew the two friends hard enough to aggravate their path, then Jin grabbed Yi by her arm trying to pull her behind him, but it wasn’t possible. Jin watched Yi shiver from the temperature, then he looked at the shopping bag, where the third cover was and he took it out, followed by the wind blow he fell down on the ground while being pulled by the cover. Jin got up on his knees to watch Yi in front of him holding her hand down, then Jin grabbed her hand and Yi helped the boy up and he placed the cover around Yi to protect her more from the cold.

“Jin, you need to watch for yourself too!” Yi warned followed by Jin placing his arms around Yi, which was rolled together like a sushi roll.

“It’s okay” Jin commented rubbing with his hands on Yi to heat her quicker.

“Jin please get the cover off me. You need it too” Yi pleaded the friend, which kept helping the girl to get warm. “Jin, please….do this for me,” Yi asked as the friend had looked at her seeing her tragic about his stubbornness. Jin felt his heart aching from seeing Yi’s concern about him, then he sighed and removed the cloth from Yi’s body and along with her, they placed the cover above their back. The snow kept storming against them making it difficult for the two to move forward on the snow and both embraced each other tightly in the weather desperate about the conditions.

“I’m….s...sorry I brought you out here Yi” Jin apologized watching Yi lie her head on his chest trembling from the negative temperatures. Jin tried to help the girl keep warm by caressing her on the back. “It’s all my fault” Jin lamented seeing Yi shook her head slowly.

“N….no.. it’...its…not” Yi stammered from the cold, slowly slipping off Jin’s arms, which in shock held her in his arms, then squatted on his knees holding the girl in his arms.

“No! Yi! Please get up, you can’t just give up right now!” Jin bawled in panic. Jin used the cover he had given Yi in the first place to give her warm and tried to warm her up with his arms again. Seeing Yi with her eyes closed gave the boy more insecurity and he pulled her closer to him rubbing her on the cover with his arms trying to produce heat for the girl. “Please don’t leave me alone here Yi, please don’t do that to me” Jin begged starting to shed tears on his eyes frightening the eventual death of his friend. “Help!” Jin shouted echoing around the darkness where nothing was to be seen.

Meanwhile, on the road, a man sat inside a large SUV together with a teenage girl, which gazed through the windshield of the car noticing how bad the sight was for them to see.

“Are you sure, were going to make it back dad?” The teenage girl asked the driver.

“The current circumstances we need to go slower, it’s hard to see the road in front of our noses” The driver answered.

“God, we should have left earlier if we knew we would land in the middle of a snowstorm” The teenage girl commented taking out the smartphone, that lied in the inside of the cup holder to see the time.

“There is something” The father mentioned slowing the car down, then he squinted his eyes to see the boy Jin covering Yi with the third cover, which was the one he wore before. “There are two people out there!” The man exclaimed stopping the car while removing the seatbelt, then he got out of the car to see the two teens.

“Wait dad!” The girl shouted leaving the car to help her father.

“Go open the back door for them” The man ordered the girl, which ran back to open the door, then watched the father carry the boy into the vehicle.

“S….ssssss..aaavee…...h….herrrr….f...fff.fir.sst” Jin pleaded as the man sat him inside the car gently. “P...p..please….”

“We will don’t worry” The man assured the teenage boy. “First you need to get warmed up. You’re nearly freezing to death” The man mentioned, seeing Jin shiver terribly from the low body temperature and the man removed his jacket and covered Jin with it.

  
  


  
  


  
  


  
  


Yi lied on a couch covered with a fleecy cover with her eyes closed resting.

“Are they okay?” A female voice asked in the background.

“Yes, they’re better now, than when we picked them up” A male voice answered. “I just don’t know yet, how they ended up alone there”

“They must have got lost” The woman mentioned. “I’ll be serving them a hot herb tea, if they’re able to drink”

“Dad, I had a strange dream last night,” A second female voice said.

On the couch, Yi opened up her eyes slowly looking around at the living room she was in, then sat up slowly checking the surroundings, where she was to spot a brunette man and two blonde women.

“Good morning” The woman greeted along with the man.

“…...Morning” Yi greeted gazing at the family a little shoo from the foreign people. “Where am I?” Yi asked, then the man approached the girl bending down to the Chinese girl.

“You’re in our holiday house….well it’s rented, but that’s not the point. I and my daughter Sonja caught you and your friend out there in the cold nearly freezing and helped you out of there”

“Thank you” Yi whispered. “We were completely lost. We missed out coach and needed to go back and…..where’s Jin?” Yi asked remembering her childhood friend in shock, then the man calmed the girl down.

“He’s fine, don’t worry” The man promised. “He’s lying on the other couch there” The man pointed out to the other couch, where Jin lied also covered with a woolly cover resting. Yi sighed and looked back at the man.

“Thank you so much for helping us out. I think we wouldn’t be here anymore if you didn’t show up Mr….”  
“Haas”

“Mr. Haas. Thank you Mr. Haas” Yi thanked earning a smile from the man. “I’m Yi”

“I hope you’re okay with the clothes I gave you yesterday. They’re from my son and he’s the only one to be similar to your size”  
“It’s fine Mr. Haas. I’m okay with them” Yi answered watching the man get up and leave the living room through the bow from the corridor of the entrance of the house.

“So Yi I have warmed up in the kitchen for you and your friend” The woman explained walking into the kitchen, then Yi got up from the couch and went down on her knees to Jin, which lied on the couch.

“Oh Jin I can’t believe we’re still alive after this” Yi spoke watching the boy, which slept on the couch in serenity. Yi leaned her forehead in front of his placing her hand on his, which lied in front of his face. “This whole trip is insane”

The teenage girl, that assisted her father with helping the two raven-haired teenagers watched Yi holding her forehead in front of the boy, making her smile enamored with the sight of the two.

“After what happened out there I would also be worried about my boyfriend” The girl mentioned seeing Yi lift her head while looking at the medical student smiling a little, then she shook her head and sat down in front of Jin’s carefully.

“We’re not really dating” Yi corrected.

“Oh okay…..I didn’t know that”

“It’s alright, no problem” Yi answered, then the blonde girl got up and passed by Yi.

“Look, I’ll be right back. I’m gonna check if my mother needs something” The girl explained walking behind the couch. “And my name is Sonja, by the way,” The blonde introduced earning a smile from Yi and the blonde left the living room and Yi looked down at Jin, therefore she placed her hand on Jin’s head watching him breathe normally. Yi moved herself to the side by accident hitting him on the nose with her elbow, waking the boy up.

“Woah” Jin replied, then looked up at Yi, which looked down in shock at Jin, afterward she sighed seeing the friend was alright. “Hey” Jin greeted slowly sitting up on the couch, then Yi embraced the boy tight surprising the boy.

“Great to see, you’re safe and sound Jin” Yi confessed lying her head on the warm covered chest of the boy. “And your jammies are so soft” Yi complimented looking down along with Jin at the shirt he wore, which was pink and had the sentence _big unicorn princess._

“Did they really give me a girl’s pajama?” Jin asked making Yi laugh.

“At least you’re not freezing anymore”

“That’s a good point” Jin mentioned looking at Yi, which still had her arms wrapped around the boy, which made Jin do a wry grin at the embrace.

The mother came out with two cups of hot tea and stopped in front of the two friends.

“Great you two are awake now” The woman mentioned. “I’ve made a herbs tea for the two of you. Be careful it’s hot”

“Thank you” Jin answered taking a cup along with Yi.

Mr. Haas came back with a bunch of clothing on his hands and meet up with his wife and the two friends.

“For the moment I think it’s better for you to keep the pajamas on. Then before the lunch, I would suggest you take a shower and wear these clothes” Mr. Haas explained. “And don’t worry, I’ve brought you a pair of jeans and a hoodie for you. You won’t be wearing anything girl-like” He explained making Yi chuckle, while Jin rolled his eyes annoyed.

“Thank you, sir”

“But the only thing I could get from Ben was his energy drink shirt and cargo pants”

“It’s okay, thank you”

“I can ask you the questions later, but just curious. Where were you going the other day?” Mr. Haas asked watching the teens carefully take a sip from their tea.

“We were traveling by a coach to Kathmandu, but my friend Jin here during the break the coach did go to the restrooms and got his head hit on the wall and lied powerless on the ground. Unluckily I just went a little later to see, if he was okay….and well he wasn’t”

“Are you diabetic? The man asked interested seeing Jin shake his head.

“No the floor was wet and after I was done with my job I slipped on it”

“Oh...okay” The man answered. “Look Kathmandu is around 9 hours away from here. We could take you two up there eventually. We planned to visit the Sche-Phoksundo national park this week, which is near”

“If you don’t really mind our company, that would be great sir” Jin answered with a simper smile.

“The trip will be tomorrow if you don’t mind it. You two will be our guests here and you two can rest, eat, sleep or join our family plans together, if interested”

“That sounds good for us” Yi answered taking a sip from her drink.

“Take it slow, you two. You’ve got enough time” Mr. Haas spoke earning a nod from the two.


	21. Chapter 21

****Chapter** ** ****2** ** ****1** **

The Haas’ were having lunch together with their guests Jin and Yi eating around the table together fondue, which was a specialty from Mrs. Haas family. 

“Mmh I have to admit, this is the most delicious fondue I have ever tasted in my life” Jin commented after he swallowed down a small cube of bread covered with melted cheese.

“You tasted the white bread only boy. The real pleasure is when you pick nut bread instead” Mr. Haas told Jin, which used the long fork to sting into a brown-colored cube from the bread basket and dunked it into the pot with the cheese, which is being held warm by a flame, that was under the fondue pot in a flame distributor. Jin took out the fork, then blew firmly at the hot cheese and took it into his mouth groaning with joy at the flavor. “Wow this one really tasted great”

“What type of cheese did you use in here Mrs. Haas?” Yi questioned the woman as she had dipped her fork into the cheese along with Sonja and Mr. Haas.

“Major part of it is Emmental and Appenzeller cheese. Additionally, I would also add Gruyére to it, but they didn’t have it so I added a pack with grated cheese” The blonde adult answered.

“Okay and the room is also supposed to smell like this after lunch, right?” Yi questioned the woman, which nodded.

“It’s bearable for me” Jin explained picking another piece of bread from the basket. “Better than having to deal with the smell of an onion soup” Jin mentioned dunking his fork into the cheese followed by Yi, which had caught in surprise. Jin smiled a little, then Yi rolled her eyes away from the boy turning a little red. Mr. Haas exchanged looks with his wife understanding, what was going on with the two.

“So…….I’m just wondering, what are two kids around your age doing here on the other side of China?” The brown-haired man questioned the duo noticing Jin getting distracted by Yi, then he shook his head in confusion and looked at the man.

“Uh well my younger cousin wanted to fulfill the last wish of a man, that had somehow been important to all of us and this would have needed us three to travel together to Nepal and we didn’t agree to go in the first place, cause it was way too far for us, but….he went by himself,”

“And you two are going behind him?” The man asked earning a nod from Jin.

“Yeah well first we were supposed to catch him after a day, but they were always a step ahead of us and now it doesn’t matter anymore and we just want to get back to him and be apart of the realization of our old friend’s last will”

“That’s great”

“Yeah, I think after I see him again I will have better nights again,” Jin confessed. “I slept okay most of the times, but my worries are keeping me active”

“Did your younger cousin go by himself?” The mother asked.

“His sister, which had informed us about the last will sent a friend of her to accompany him,” Yi added. “We knew about his trip, cause he left Jin a letter explaining he needed to do that”

“Good is, that we’re closer to Nepal now after all these days” Jin added. “And alive”

“We will bring you two safe and sound there, don’t worry about it” The man mentioned.

“Thank you,” The two Chinese friends said picking another piece of bread from the basket to dip it into the melted cheese.

“Hey, can we after lunch all play the game of life together?” The younger brother of Sonja asked gazing at his parents over the caquelon.

“Sure as long as you help your mother doing the dishes, there won’t be a problem” The father answered making the boy groan.

  
  


  
  


In Nepal inside the transporter the man, that used to work for Mr. Burnish as the leader of the Burnish Industries stood in front of the plan, which had been discussed with Zara and the rest of the team. On the outside, someone knocked on the door and it got opened up and it was Zara, which looked into the interior wondering what was going on.

“Is something not clear with the plan?” Zara asked watching the raven-haired man look back.

“Everything is clear Zara” The man answered. “I’m just thinking about, when we’re going to send one of the kids up to the mountains, if we will actually manage to catch a yeti or if the yetis will sense our presence and it turns dangerous for us all,”

“We’re all armed with enough tranquilizers to put more than one yeti asleep, if necessary,” Zara explained. “And as long as the boy is there earning the attention of the yeti and has succeeded in having contact with him, we aim the yeti and take him down. Then we just need to get him like last time into the trailer and we leave,”

“Yeah, the plan seems easy. I don’t know. I haven’t done any of this ever again, I think that’s why I’m feeling a little strange”

“It will work trust me,” Zara reiterated earning a nod from the man.

“Okay, I should stop worrying about it”

“Of course. After all this, you can go back to your old life and do, what you always did before or you can use the money and I don’t know….open a new business, anything you prefer” Articulated Zara walking out to the exit of the transporter.

  
  


Dave and Peng stood inside the entrance hall of a hotel together looking at a map of the country searching for their current location.

“We’re right here” Dave pointed out on the card, where it had a red dot with the words You’re right here. “Tomorrow or when your cousin Jin is here along with your friend we can all four discuss together when to go up to the Himalayas to scatter the ashes of Mr. Burnish,”

“Yes,” Peng answered shortly. Dave took out his smartphone, then scrolled on the display for a phone number and rolled his eyes at the boy.

“I’ll be telling Miss Burnish, that we’re here” Dave explained pressing the call button afterward he leaned it next to his ear. “Good afternoon Miss Burnish, I and Peng arrived Kathmandu,”

“ _Great. How was the flight?”_

“It was tolerable. It got delayed again, but we could still make it here”

“ _Good, have you heard anything of Jin or Yi?”  
_ “No, but I wanted to ask this too”  
 _“They were in Hotan the last time they called me. That was almost two days ago. Eventually, they might call me, when they arrive at Kathmandu. They’ve picked a coach and I presume it arrives tonight or in the early morning”_

“Okay is it possible for you to inform us about their arrival?” Dave questioned. “In case we’re not in the same station?”

“ _I will and I will notify them, that you two are in Kathmandu awaiting them,”_

“Great Peng’s going to be happy to see them again”

“ _Sure and stay tuned”_

“Sure. Goodbye,” Dave said turning the phone off and looking down at Peng, which looked at the map in front of them.

“I can’t believe, we’re almost there,” The child said earning a nod from the adult.

“Yes we’re almost there” Dave agreed. “When we encounter your friends we will all four go there together and spread the ashes all together, then we have fulfilled our part of the deal”

“Yeah” Peng agreed keeping to look at the map along with the adult.


	22. Chapter 22

****Chapter** ** ****2**** ** **2** **

In the evening Mrs. Haas was taking off the used plates from the dinner table while the only persons remaining sitting were Jin, Yi and the Swiss-Austrian descendant girl Sonja.

“Did you two enjoy my Kaiserschmarrn?” The woman asked earning a nod from the newbies. 

“Really sweet” Yi answered. “And it doesn’t fill my stomach so much as the fondue did during lunchtime”

“Yes, I know. This was just a rare occasion. Ben and Sonja love fondue and so do I. It was about time to make some now, that we’re here in the snowy areas” The mother explained to the raven-haired girl.

“It was a perfect choice Mrs. Haas” Jin complimented doing the chef kiss, making Yi roll her eyes in amusement while Sonja noticed and agreed with the girl. Sonja looked back at her smartphone again, then grinned as she received a message from someone.

“My friend Nadja just sent me this funny meme here” Sonja mentioned showing her smartphone to the short teenager.

“What’s funny about it?” Yi asked curiously, then Sonja showed to her friend Jin the image, making Jin chuckle while Yi twitched her eyebrows confused “Uh I didn’t get it”

“Look closer and you see the cow is made of moos” Jin pointed out earning a nod from the friend.

“Oh,” Yi answered in understanding.

Mrs. Haas passed behind the two Chinese friends and grabbed the plate of the two, then Jin noticed the woman carrying the plates and got up from the chair grabbing them.

“I’ll be taking them to the kitchen” Jin offered earning a smile from the woman.

“That was not necessary” The woman answered following Jin into the kitchen. Yi watched the memes Sonja had shown her on the smartphone and the blonde observed her mother accompanying the friend of Yi into the kitchen, where he placed the plates on the counter next to the sink. Jin glanced out of the kitchen seeing Yi with a goofy smile on her face as the half-Austrian girl showed her memes on her smartphone, then Jin leaned his back on the counter smiling because of her and Mr. Haas came along while looking out of the room.

“Why don’t you just tell her, how you feel?” Mr. Haas asked and Jin looked up at the man in confusion.

“But…...I never mentioned that I like her. How…..Am I making this look so obvious?” Jin questioned the man surprised at the quick knowledge he has about his crush.

“I have seen last night you were so worried about her. You were willing to freeze to death for her. I’ve experienced many similar cases to yours as a paramedic. Don’t be surprised about it”

Jin watched the girls, then gazed up at Sonja’s father. “I’ve been in love with her for almost four years….Well, it took me the first year to realize I was in love with her I just…..Don’t know, it was strange and new to me. I never saw her as a possible love interest in my life. The time I felt prepared to talk to Yi about how I feel about her, was on our first day at high school….I was a little confused with a conversation I had with her father and I had pushed forward my will to talk to her after school when we were doing homework or just hanging out together. After she found out on that day, that her father had passed away…..I postponed it again and during that time we both grew apart from each other. I got popular under my classmates and the rest of the students after puberty hit me like a truck and I looked like a combination of someone named Tadashi from Big Hero 6 and one boy called Parker from a show called Liv and Maddie….According to them. I never heard of these guys before nor what shows they’re in.”

“Neither have I, but have you ever stopped maybe for a day or so loving her or even had anything else with another girl?” Mr. Haas asked Jin, which nodded.

“That part of my life was disgusting. I went on many dates with many girls in the hope I would forget about my crush, but that never worked…...I could not feel the same feeling I felt for Yi”

“I’m not a relationship expert, but I believe the feeling you’ve got for Yi isn’t just a crush. It’s real love” Mr. Haas mentioned. “That’s why you have never forgotten her”

“Yeah, I didn’t,”

“You probably have fallen for her at some later point in your life like I don’t know, after a friendly kiss on your cheek, maybe a lovely comment,” The Austrian man mentioned seeing Jin observe the raven-haired girl on the table.

“She needs to know the truth” The Chinese boy mentioned. “Soon or later I have to tell her that,” The med student explained the adult, which nodded at the boy staring out at the girls on the dinner table.

  
  


“How long have you and Jin been friends?” Sonja asked.

“I don’t really know the right answer” Yi responded. “We were very little when we met. My mother and his used to drink tea together. I think around the first grade we started to see each other as friends and we grew closer with the time”

“You two have been friends for so long?” Sonja asked surprised. “Wow”

“Yeah, there was that space of time, that our friendship has been strained at the start of our days at the high school and we drifted apart from each other,”

“Oh…...but now you’re friends again?” The girl asked earning a nod from Yi.

“Yes”

“What had happened in that time?”

“My father had passed away on our first school away and I couldn’t process, what had happened. I began to lock everyone out of my life. I needed help…...I just didn’t know with who I should talk about it”

“Oh…...”

From the kitchen, Jin walked out at the table, where the two girls were having a conversation.

“Is everyone going out tonight?” Jin questioned the blonde girl.

“You mean out at the snow?” Sonja questioned the raven-haired boy, which nodded. “Yes”

“Where are we going?” Yi asked watching Jin shrug his shoulders.

“Her father mentioned something about going sledding as he and Sonja did in the past” Jin answered.

“My father used to take me here when I was a child and we would sled together down the hill,” Sonja explained. “Just a few years ago, various colored lights were added to the track giving the people a new aspect”

“That sounds amusing” The Chinese girl admitted earning a nod from the European descendant girl.

“The only difference is guiding a sled is a little hard, because you don’t have a steering wheel and for newbies, it might be hard, if not used to it,” Mr. Haas said coming out from the kitchen.

“I managed driving an oldtimer with manual gear shift. I don’t think sledding will be harder” Jin mentioned making the man snicker.

“Can’t wait to see you on the track, boy” Mr. Haas mentioned making his daughter laugh.

“Is it that hard?” Jin asked a little bewildered about the laughter.

“I’m just joking. If you get at the begin of the ride, you won’t have a problem”

“Okay,” Jin responded, then beside him passed the 14-year-old child of the Haas’ family with his portable and looked up at his father.

“Dad, can you help me pass this level?” The boy asked. “I can’t manage it”

“Hey my younger cousin has also one of these portables” Jin pointed out at the boy, which looked up at Jin.

“Will you play that level for me?” The boy asked looking up at Jin.

“I can try” Jin answered. “Is this an adventure game?”

“Yeah” The boy answered. “You have to defeat that villain, so you can pass to the last world”

“Alright Ben, I’ll try,” Jin said sitting down on the chair, followed by the boy pulling another chair close to the Asian descendant boy to watch him play.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This track doesn't exist in real life. It's just fanon. (But would be cute though) Night sledding on the other hand exists.

****Chapter** ** ****2**** ** **3** **

Later on that night, the Haas family together with Jin and Yi were out together on the hills all dressed up warm pulling in duo a sled behind them the hills up following a few other tourists, that were also present.

“Many of the riders seem to be younger than our parents” Yi mentioned looking at Jin, which walked beside her pulling together with her their sled.

“There are also a few under them, that seem to be in our age” Jin asserted watching a few persons behind them, most of them being from Asian descendants. “I think that guy over there is in my school” Jin mentioned looking back to a blonde young man walking together with a raven-haired girl.

“And the girl next to him is the girlfriend then?” Yi asked watching Jin shrug his shoulders.

“I never saw her in my life” Jin mentioned.

“Hey I’ve never asked this before, but where are you two originally from?” Mrs. Haas asked gazing at Jin and Yi. “I mean from where from China did you get here, where we are”

“Shanghai” Yi answered. “We grew up there”

“During the time we’re at university, we live at the campus near our school in Beijing. We only manage to see our families on the school vacation,” Jin told the family. “Most of the times, when it was possible I phoned with my parents or video called”

“And I did the same with mine” Yi added. “They tried their best to motivate me through the hardest times and so did I”

“Talking about that, the day I had to leave, my mom took me to the train station and she couldn’t stop hugging me and spreading kisses all over my face” Jin mentioned a little embarrassed making Yi and Sonja laugh.

“You’re still her baby boy, Jin” Sonja mentioned earning a nod from Yi.

“I’m an only child and she would be the rest of the time alone after I leave”

“I shared a long goodbye with my mother and grandmother. It was a painful moment, even for me” Yi confessed earning a nod from the parent.

“Thinking about this, we should at least spend a bit family time with our parents since we’re off school” The raven-haired boy pointed out earning a nod from his crush.

“Yes, but we’ve been away for days and we haven’t done anything with them together” Yi mentioned. “We should take care of that when we get back to Shanghai”

“Yes I agree”

“Are we there yet?” Ben asked looking up the hill seeing, that there were getting slowly closer to their destination.

“We’re almost there Ben” The father answered.

“The ride will be amazing, I can assure it,” Sonja said placing her hand on her brother’s shoulder.

“I hope the whole walking up of the hills will be worth it,” Jin mentioned. “Not complaining about being tired or anything, but from stomping into the snow during the walk it’s a little exhausting”

“Don’t worry, it will be worth it” Mr. Haas commented looking at Jin, who nodded.

“We have the luck here, that we had a lift up half of the hill,” The wife of Mr. Haas mentioned.

“We’re almost…….almost….almost……..there” Ben hinted as they were close to the top. “We’re here!” Ben shouted stopping together with his sister on the top of the hill followed by the others.

“Wow” The younger people gushed at seeing the track, which was slightly marked by the previous sledders.

“Where are the lights?” Jin asked Sonja, which sat on the sled behind her younger brother.

“More to the middle of the of the track” Sonja answered. “But don’t worry, it will be enjoyable. Trust me” Sonja assured moving her feet on the ground together with Ben entering the track followed by a couple, that came behind the group.

“Come on you two, it will be fun,” Mr. Haas said entering together with his wife on their sled sliding the track down following their children.

“Let’s sit down Yi,” Jin said sitting down on the sled, while Yi sat behind him and glanced over his shoulder.

“You’re okay with sitting there?” Yi asked earning a nod from the boy.

“I’m fine unless it’s better for you here”

“I’m fine like this” Yi answered placing her hands around Jin’s belly making him smile a little amused. “Are we going?”

“Yes,” Jin answered slowly pushing with his feet against the ground to make the sled slide down on the track. “Here we go”

“You sure you can handle the sled, right?” Yi asked the boy close on his ears noticing him nodding.

“Don’t worry” Jin answered. “It’s left leg for left and right leg for right. It's going to be easy” Jin assured gazing at the track together with Yi slowly approaching the next left curve, which had on the longer side a few poles with red lightened smoke whizzing out of the top.

Jin slowly sank his left leg on the ground to grind on the track making the sled turn and they managed to perform a curve with success in the middle of the road. Jin smiled at his success, then he heard behind them two people yell and he looked back along with Yi to see the blonde boy from before pass down with their sled waving at them.

“Hey watch the road!” Jin said jokingly, then looked at Yi, which was grinning joyfully about the other couple passing in front of them. The blonde beamed excited about the ride and looked forward together with the girlfriend on his ride leaving Jin and Yi behind.

“There’s our next curve” Jin pointed out holding his right feet on the ground to make the next curve noticing again red colored lights with a bigger distance between the others on both sides of the curve.

“Can I try the next curve?” Yi asked earning a nod from Jin.

“I thought you were assisting me” Jin mentioned seeing Yi hit Jin playfully on his head, making him chuckle. “Okay we can do it together later” Jin promised observing them getting closer to the next curve. “On my command, you slowly place your left foot on the ground and you take it off after we’re halfway through the curve,” Jin instructed the girl, which obeyed the friend placing the foot on the ground seeing her foot cause bits of snow to fly from under her shoe as she brakes the sled on the curve. “Now lift it off,” The Chinese boy said seeing the girl take her foot up again and the sled gets straight on their way again, being a little close to the left side of the piste.

In front of them was a small space, where there were several trees covered with snow and light blue lights and pink lights garland lights hang from one tree to the other over the highest branch of the tree. Jin and Yi smiled at seeing the couple they had came across before passing under the trees along with the Haas’ noticing the lights shine on their winter jackets.

The two childhood friends passed under the trees, Yi enchanted by the lights moved her head up seeing the illumination shine down at her followed by a few snowflakes dropping down at the ground. Jin who admired the passage he turned his head back at Yi seeing her stuck her tongue out to catch a few snowflakes. Hit by Yi’s idea Jin did the same putting his tongue out while closing his eyes to catch a snowflake, followed by a green, round husk land on his upper lip shrieking him and he caught the peel on his hands and looked at it. Jin heard Yi behind him chuckle at what had happened then Jin furrowed his eyebrows serious at the coincidence and he kept the packed walnut on his hands following the other sleds in front of them to the next curve, which was shaped after the S letter and both used their right leg to make together the first part of the curve, then they changed to the left leg to make the last part of the curve, nearly crashing with the Haas’ siblings.

“Well done you two” Sonja complimented earning a smile from the teens. The sleds approached another part of the track with trees illuminated with long light strings by the red and orange colors. Yi beamed delighted by the look of the colors blinking under the trees, passing down under them making Yi sigh amorously at the atmosphere.

The teenage girl on the second sled noticed Yi spread her arms enjoying the time she was having on the piste and Jin glanced back to see the girl lying her back down on the sled making the boy smile in love with the girl. Soon as they got out of the mini-forest they saw the next curves, which consisted of a long slalom piste illuminated with colored smoke on the curves coming out from each pole, that stood on the sides attached to nets, which included basic daylights spelling the sledding track’s name.

“This is amazing” Jin raved in surprise from their ride on the snow. “It’s…..indescribable,” Jin mentioned approaching the first 120° curve, then he placed his foot on the ground to steer the sled well enough to avoid crashing into Sonja and Ben, which performed the curve closer to the sides. Jin exchanged looks with Ben, which gave Jin a thumb up from the ride, therefore Jin gazed at the net they passed by with the track’s description, soon he felt someone embrace him from behind and he noticed Yi was hugging him from behind while having her cheek leaned on his back smiling amorously at their ride. Jin opened his mouth amazed at the girl’s affectionate behavior towards him. Jin slowly caressed the girl on the hands, letting the girl lean the way she was on his back and he sighed amatory continuing the ride along with Sonja and Ben, which had noticed, what had happened between the two, soon the two groups disappeared in the next curve followed by another sled, which was also participating the ride along other riders.


	24. Chapter 24

****Chapter** ** ****2**** ** **4** **

The next day Dave and Peng sat together in the evening on the stairs in front of a small sea in the garden of dreams both drinking from a plastic bottle different flavored milk. 

“I feel like buttermilk tastes the same to me,” The child told the adult, which drank strawberry-flavored buttermilk.

“I think it’s harder to figure it out, because of the fruit flavor. It would be easier, if we would be drinking the natural one to recognize it,” Dave mentioned followed by taking a sip from the drink along with Peng and together they watched on the other side citizens stroll around the park passing by a pavilion where a trio of students sat studying with the help of books.

“Miss Burnish hasn’t said anything yet about Jin?” Peng asked looking at the adult, which scratched himself on the beard.

“Not yet” The man answered. “I bet in an hour or two we know it”

“That would be great” Peng admitted watching the trio of two girls and a boy studying together. “You’re wondering, how I remembered to ask that?”

“Per coincidence…..has it to do something with the students under the pavilion?” Dave asked earning a nod from the boy. “What are Jin and Yi learning at their school?”

“Jin is studying medicine and Yi something with technic. I don’t really know, what exactly she’s learning,”

“Okay and how long are they going to be learning their courses?” Dave asked. “Any idea?” Dave asked seeing Peng shrug his shoulders. “Oh, alright”

“They have just started last year. That’s the only thing I know” Peng mentioned. “Hey what could we give Yi and Jin, when they first get here?”

“What do you mean?” Dave asked. “Like food?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. A welcome gift or something,”  
“We could check the next store, but I think the first thing they want is to rest their mind and body. Mostly, if we’re planning to go up to the Himalayas,”

“I think you’re right Dave” Peng confessed. “They have been looking for us non-stop. They stopped to overnight, wherever it was possible, but during the day they have never stopped to look for us. They really need that break,”

"We’ve got time. We can even go when both are resting and surprise them after it” Dave suggested.  
“I think that’s a better idea” Peng agreed.

The Haas family sat all inside the family SUV along with Yi and Jin, which sat on the back of the car together with Sonja and Ben sat behind them on a separate car seat, which was open for him. Jin lied with his head against the window with closed eyes, behind him on the shoulder Yi had her head leaned on him, also resting along the ride.  
“I wonder how anyone can get a well bit of sleep when sleeping in the car” Sonja mentioned glancing at the Chinese students next to her. “Mostly when lying on the window”  
“They must still be tired from yesterday,” Mrs. Haas said making Sonja nod.  
“I believe yesterday both have come really closer together.....at least they seemed more affectionate about being closer to the other”  
“I’ve noticed on their arrival down at the track” The mother mentioned. “They don’t need anything more to realize they like each other” The mother admitted glancing back at the pair, hearing the soft snoring of one of the two students. Sonja saw on Yi’s pocket on her pants her smartphone and took it out carefully and Yi opened up her eyes and noticed Sonja taking his smartphone out.

“What are you doing?” Yi asked and Sonja gave her the smartphone back.

“I was doing you a favor” Sonja mentioned and Yi noticed, she had been lying on Jin’s shoulder, then smiled a little amatory and looked at Sonja.

“We’ve grown really tight the past few days” Yi mentioned. “And I’ve noticed days ago, that he’s trying to figure out how to make the next step. He surely knows I’m in love with him too”

“We have noted his attraction on you too” The blonde teenager added. “You will see soon or later he will ask you out and you will be glad you waited so long for it”

“You know….he doesn’t know that, but I’ve caught him a few days ago practicing with a dog how to ask me out….I….it’s funny….I never noticed Jin had such a soft side….I feel like I’ve got on this trip more attracted to him as I already was”

“Aww” Sonja commented looking along with Yi at the sleeping med student.

“Random information ladies and gentlemen. We will arrive in the next five minutes the Kathmandu airport. Please make sure you’re still sitting until we come to a full stop,” The father joked making Yi chuckle. “This sounded like in an airplane didn’t it?” Mr. Haas questioned the raven-haired girl, which shrugged her shoulders.

“Nearly it did” Yi commented, then Sonja tapped the girl on the shoulder and pointed at Jin.

“Someone should wake him up” Sonja decreed the friend, which looked at Jin lying with his face against the window. Yi nudged Jin on the shoulder slowly watching him still sleeping, then she shove him more firmly seeing him shut his eyes open and sat up caressing his cheek, where he had lied on the car window.

“Where am I?” Jin asked looking at Yi and Sonja sitting beside him.

“We’re here sleepy head” Sonja commented watching Jin yawn and stretch his arms.

“We’re at the airport of Kathmandu” Yi stated and Jin looked out of the window to see their car enter into the arrivals in front of the airport.

“This is where we agreed with Miss Burnish to meet Peng” Jin mentioned.

“And Dave” Yi mentioned. “And how does he look like again?”

“I don’t remember exactly. I think he has a mustache,” Jin mentioned.

“The one who borrowed you the jacket?”

“Yeah also I think he was the same guy, you hit him on the nose causing him a nosebleed”

“Oh right, that Dave” Yi stated remembering back in the Himalayas how she had hit him with her hand to escape to help yeti Everest.

“You hit someone in the nose?” Ben asked looking at Yi.

“That was a bad reflex” Yi mentioned a little embarrassed. “But we’re good”

“Jin, Yi, do you two want to leave here?” Mr. Haas offered. “There’s no free park here at the moment”  
“Sure we can, you don’t need to keep looking” Yi answered and the SUV stopped on the road close to the parallel parking spots in front of the exit of the airport.

“Let them out honey” Mrs. Haas pleaded the daughter, which opened the door and stepped out of the car, waiting until Jin and Yi had left.

“Thank you so much for everything you and your family did to us” Yi thanked.

“And thanks for washing our clothes” Jin added. “The scent is now gone, but I enjoyed the smell of ocean” Jin complimented earning a smile from Sonja’s mother.

“I’m glad you were happy with the shirt. Sorry I couldn’t iron it” Mrs. Haas apologized seeing Jin shake his head and lift his hands up.  
“It’s no big deal, I’m fine with it” Jin mentioned.

“Has anyone of you Facestargram or anything, where we could chat once in a while?” Sonja asked earning a nod from the duo.

“I can write my username down on your notes” Yi suggested watching Sonja hand her out the smartphone to type down her username. “You will find Jin under my followers or vice versa. He’s very…..known” Yi commented making Jin snicker.

“15k followers” Jin mentioned making Sonja wide her eyes in shock.

“What did you do to have that many followers?” Sonja asked watching Jin shrug his shoulders.

“Nothing, the popular friends I used to hang out with had suggested my account to other people until one day I had that many followers” Jin mentioned. “I used to have more than that thought”

“I will look for you two, when I catch WIFI somewhere, don’t worry”

“We see that when we catch WIFI too” Yi added chuckling along with the blonde.

“Stay together you two and be careful, don’t do the same thing you did last time back there in the streets” Mr. Haas warned earning a nod from the two Chinese students.

“We will be more careful this time. Pinky promise” Yi pledged earning a smile from the adults.

“Goodbye and have a good time” Mrs. Haas wished.

“And call us, if you need something. We’ll be in Kathmandu for the next two days” Mr. Haas mentioned earning a nod from the duo, which watched the family leave and follow the road to the exit of the airport space.

“I can’t believe it we made it” Jin announced throwing his arms up in the air excited. “We’re in Nepal!”

“I know, it’s amazing?” Yi admitted with a fabulous smile, then was embraced by the tall boy, which lifted the girl in the air and placed her on the ground again laughing along with her. “We made a pretty good team…...without counting the last 24 hours I mean” Yi mentioned earning a nod from Jin.

“We still are” Jin added placing his hand on Yi’s shoulder, then Yi embraced the tall boy, which smiled gently at the girl and caressed her back. Both gazed at each other after their hug, then they heard someone shout and they looked together across the sidewalk to see Peng ran towards them making them smile as they recognized the child.

“Peng!” Jin cried seeing his younger cousin approaching the two and Peng joined the two teenagers into a group hug.

“You’re here Jin!” Peng exclaimed hugging both friends tightly.

“Great to see you’re alright,” Yi said feeling the boy’s hug get harder around her and Jin. “Woah Peng, take it easy”

“I’m so sorry Jin,” Peng complained starting to tear up in front of the two students. “I’m sorry, that I made you two cross China just because of my nonsense,”

“Shhh everything will be fine, little cuz,” Jin tried to comfort his cousin passing his thumb under his left eye cleaning his tear away. “You know I would have done that the one or the other way”

“Really?” Peng asked earning a nod from Jin.

“Even if you went to Europe or Africa. I would not give up until I find you” Jin added exchanging looks with Yi.

“And you know he’s being serious” Yi added making Peng chuckle a little, additionally Yi helped Peng clean his tears off the face.

“Where’s Dave?” Jin asked, then saw him approach the trio a little quietly and stopped in front of the medical student.

“I just knew it a little later, that you two were looking for him. But I made sure he would be out of danger” The man explained earning a short nod from the raven-haired teen.

“Thanks for taking care of Peng during this space of time,” Jin said holding his hand out to shake.

“We have checked in at a hotel in the near. I managed to get a room with at least three beds. You and your cousin can share the couple bed while I and your friend have our own bed” Dave explained the teenager, which nodded.

“Thanks, Dave,” Jin said then glanced down at the younger cousin, which was looking at Yi, which was soothing him down followed by Jin placing his hand behind the cousin’s back to assist the reassurance.


	25. Chapter 25

****Chapter** ** ****2** ** ****5** **

In the afternoon after Lunch Yi sat together with Peng on the outside of the hotel on the stairs. Yi was on the phone talking with her mother, while Peng had a comic book in his hands. 

“I miss you too, mom, we’re really looking forward in coming back the next few days,” Yi said.

“ _Alright, Yi. Be careful out there and make sure Peng is okay. I know Jin’s mom already said this, but you know he’s a child”_

“Peng is maturer than we think he is……. Jin and I don’t really need to have our eyes to 100% on him all the time,”

“ _That sounds good. Please call me, whenever you need something,”_

“Sure mother, thank you,” Yi said turning the call off, then she gazed at Peng, which was reading a comic book. “Where did Jin go?”

“I don’t know” Responded Peng. “He said something with going to visit a medical school in the near”

“Okay,” Yi answered. “A little strange, what’s so special at a med school in another country?”

“I don’t know” Peng replied. “Jin told me to say that”

“So…...he’s not really going there isn’t he?” Yi asked changing her neutral facial expression into a self-assured smirk.

“I don’t know, what you’re talking about. He simply told me I should say that. If he has specifically said this to keep something secret from us, I have no clue about it”

“Okay, I won’t bother you anymore with this,” Yi stated crossing her arms and look down at the streets watching the vehicles pass by the street. “I still can’t believe we’re going to the Himalayas,”

“Me neither” Peng agreed. “Do you think we will see Everest there?”

“You know, how great that would be” Yi confessed. “It’s strange but I miss the days we passed all together with him,”

“I enjoyed the times we played together with Everest on the trip. He was like the friend I couldn’t find during summer vacation” The child mentioned earning a nod from the teenage girl.

“When we’re up there and meet Everest we can all play together with him. Who knows maybe he’s a grown yeti now and has his own litter”

“That would be cute, but wasn’t he supposed to be a child?” Peng questioned the girl, which shrugged her shoulders.

“We humans age different from the animals. Some animals turn adults in a few months only, some in a few years, some even in days like the insects”

“Oh right. You’ve got a good point”

“Just think about it how happy Everest would be if he recognizes us again,” Yi said making Peng smile angelic at the thought.

From behind the two raven-haired Asians Jin appeared leaving the entrance of the hotel and stopped to look at his younger cousin sitting on the stairs next to Yi. Jin approached them and sat down next to Peng.

“Hey, what are you two doing down here?” Jin asked looking at the two friends.

“We’re just waiting here for Dave to come” Yi answered. “Peng also got me wondering, why you went out to see a medical school”

“Yeah well, it’s a funny story. I ran through the street market on the other side, then I went to the airport again to buy something and I couldn’t find anything I wished and….I’ve bought something else”

“Okay?” Yi answered a little confused. Jin noticed Peng’s comic and moved the front page to the side and sighed in relief as he checked on the cover the serial number of it.

“Is there something wrong?” Peng asked seeing Jin shake his head.

“You know I saw at the airport the next edition of this comic and I thought I had bought you the same one”

“You bought the next edition?” Peng asked surprise. “Awesome!”

“But I left it up in the room, thinking you two would be out of the hotel,” Jin said. “Sorry”

“Can I go and get it?” Peng asked. “Please?” Peng added rolling his eyes up at Jin, making him roll his eyes in amusement.

“Of course and make sure you make it to the right room” Jin warned watching Peng head back to the hotel leaving Jin back with Yi.

“Why were you at the airport?” Yi questioned the raven-haired boy, which slide on the stair closer to the girl.

“I wanted to thank you, that you came on your free will with me on this trip…..I also want to apologize for the times we got in trouble or I got in trouble and you had to help me out,”

“It’s no big deal Jin. You have done the same to me and it was great, that we were in this together or alone both of us would end up dead somewhere,”

“Yeah, that’s crazy to think about it” Jin admitted, then gazed up at the hotel and looked back at Yi.

“You can give your _thank you_ gift later to me. It doesn’t have to be now”

“Yeah I know, I kind of just feel empty right now without it” Jin stated. “Otherwise uhm I’d like to talk with you about something”

“Sure go on”

“Well….oh boy that’s a little hard..erm...look already before the trip I…..even longer I felt like this,”

“Uh how did you feel?” Yi asked a little bewildered at the sentencing of the boy.

“Sorry, I don’t know, how I should say this, but…..I like you” Jin finished the sentence looking at Yi processing his words to understand, what he meant.

“How much do you like me?” Yi asked watching Jin roll his eyes thinking about how to continue the talk.

“Yeah look we have been friends for so long and I actually just noticed on myself, when I exactly started to get to…...like you that much”

“Uh yeah?”

“I’m making it complicated am I?” Jin asked before Yi raised her hand to answer his question Jin did a facepalm groaning annoyed. “Of course! I’m not even capable to tell you, how I feel correctly”

“You’ve got other ways to say it” Yi proposed. “You can write them down, draw them. You don’t need to do them verbally” The girl cajoled the boy, which gazed down at the ground in disappointment. Yi sank her head a little sad with the friend’s confidence and glances down at the stairs.

“I want to be able to say it right into the face” Jin explained. “Without so much hesitation”

“Just try it again, Jin,” Yi suggested. “You can do that” Yi said placing her hand on Jin’s hands, which he had placed over his lap.

Jin kept a sad facade, then Yi leaned her head on his shoulder sighing at his spirit of trying to confess.

“I think the maid likes me,” A voice said and Yi looked back along with Jin a little confused to see Dave standing there with a small heart-shaped praline box, which was open and had a few pralines missing from it. “These pralines are delicious” Dave mumbled as he picked out another praline to eat. Jin widened his eyes in irritated and stood up looking at Dave pissed.

“Why did you just open my chocolate box?” Jin asked. “I was supposed to give them to Yi,”

“You were?” Dave muttered finishing the chocolate praline he had. Jin growled, then turned around his back.

“Never mind, I’ll get her another one” Jin mentioned walking the stairs down. “I’ll be back later”

Yi looked at Dave, which had closed the box a little ashamed of his mistake.

“I should probably have asked you two first about the box or…...just leave it, where it was” Dave stated making Yi shrug a little, afterward she nodded, that it had probably been the better deed.

  
  


Later in the same afternoon, Yi walked on the sidewalk up beside the Bagmati river looking around the surroundings of the road, she was on.

“He couldn’t have gone so far to my knowledge,” Yi told herself while walking on the sidewalk passing behind a parking spot file in front of the small buildings behind it. “At least I know, where to go if I needed to print out a book” Yi mumbled to herself from seeing the advertising of a printer shop, then noticed on the other side of the road far away near on the road, that crossed another road, which goes over a bridge Jin talking with a person around his age showing him the map, followed by Jin shrugging his shoulders making the other man look tragic. Yi smiled and ran on the sidewalk the road up, afterward as she was getting close to the crossroad, she ran over the street, watching Jin turn his back to her to look down at the river. “Jin!” Yi called out for the boy, which looked back to see Yi arrive.

“Hey Yi” Jin greeted neutrally, then Yi ran into his arms shrieking him. “For what’s the hug?”

“What went into your head to walk around Kathmandu like this?” Yi asked taking her hand off the boy.

“Hoping I could clear my mind like that” Responded the raven-haired teen. “I felt good for this space of time…..you know by cleaning up my head I mean, not being away from you all”

“Of course I know, what you mean” Assured the girl.

“And I have to get to see Dave and apologize,” Jin added. “I sort of was a jerk. I should have put a note on the chocolate or so, that it was supposed to be given to you or just say it’s for me and that they shouldn’t open it,”

“And…….were you going to….give the chocolates as you were…..you know, talking like that to me?” Yi asked a little abashed about, how she’s suddenly taking the more confident role at the moment. Jin nodded, then looked down at the river and back at Yi.

“Yi…..you’re an amazing girl. You’re…..unique, you’re not like any other girl. You’re unique…..uh…..” Jin started to get a little tensed about the situation, while Yi rolled her eyes amused, then gazed back at Jin.

“Go ahead” She whispered, then Jin nodded and overthought the continuation.

“You’re unique, cause……you don’t need to wear any dresses or put on a lot of makeup, just to look stunning. Cause you know you already were. Many just don’t see that….And I’m one of those candidates, that didn’t see it. You’re a very talented violinist and you’re very caring towards those you care. You’re one of the bravest girls I know. You…..you have been one of the greatest friends in my entire school time…..I would really love it if…..” Jin's confession started to be more understandable by the short girl. Jin widened his eyes as he had managed to open his heart up to the childhood friend and smiled excitedly about it followed by Yi.

“I love you, Yi” Jin ultimately admitted his feelings to the girl, which hugged the tall friend sinking her head on his chest, making him wide his eyes in surprise while heating up on the cheeks. “Do…..you reciprocate?” Jin asked followed by Yi pulling Jin on the shirt down to give him a kiss on the cheek.

“Is this the answer you wanted to hear?” Yi asked gazing up at the tall boy, whose blush was still notable on his face. Jin grinned a little embarrassed at the kiss he received on his cheek, then he answered her question.

“Yes, besides I wasn’t expecting to get kissed...at least not on my face” Jin mentioned earning a smirk from the girl.

“I’m not going to make it that easy for you,” Yi mentioned crossing her arms with a smug smile. 

“I’m going to swipe you that first kiss away, don’t worry” Jin promised furrowing his eyebrows up, then someone applauded and both looked around to see a familiar redhead standing in front of them making both teens wide their eyes in shock as they recognized the woman’s face.

“Aww this is one of the sweetest thing I saw today” The woman begun sarcastically, making Jin and Yi frown their faces about her comment.

“What are you doing here?” Yi questioned crossing her arms along with Jin.

“Yeah, we assumed you had died on that avalanche” Jin added making the woman chuckle.

“We were lucky to survive” Zara stated. “The transporter has around the whole driver cabin enough airbags to protect us after it got hit on the mountain and soon our vehicle was found upside down by a few mountaineers, which called the rescuers and brought us to the hospital to take care and all that”

“And how did you know about us?” Yi asked glaring at the redhead woman, which snickered short at their question.

“I didn’t expect you two would show up here. The only thing I was looking for was Dave and that young friend of yours” Zara explained making Jin angry.

“Don’t you dare to put any of your fingers on Peng,” Jin warned getting closer to Zara, but Yi stopped him from approaching the woman.

“Don’t do anything” Yi ordered Jin, which sighed annoyed at the command. “What do you want from Dave and Peng?” Yi asked.

“I just need them as a bait to lure out of the mountains one of the yetis, whether they like it or not,”

“We won’t let you put your hands on him!” Jin hissed stepping forward, but Yi pushed Jin away from Zara to avoid them get into a fight.

“This is not going to happen Jin”

“And why do you say that?” Zara asked looking at Yi, which gazed back at the woman annoyed.

“Why would you use them as a bait, if yetis mostly Everest wouldn’t harm them?”

“Because the plan is to get one of the yeti’s attention on them and when they’re close, they’ll be darted down,” Zara instructed putting her hand inside the cotton coat to take out a tranquilizer gun, holding it up in front of the two teens.

“How do you want to convince them to obey you?” Jin asked crossing his arms thinking about the idea of the woman.

“Do you really think I’m the only person here to be going behind you, hein?” The redhead asked making Jin frown his face in confusion, then he widened his eyes and grabbed Yi pulling her aside while turning with his back away from Zara. From above Jin’s shoulder Yi widened her eyes as she felt Jin’s body twitch as he sensed something sting on his back. Yi looked down at Jin’s back to see a blue dart jabbed on his back, shrieking her at the realization of what had just happen.

“Jin?” Yi asked looking at Jin’s head fall on her shoulder, then Yi embraced the boy tight to avoid him to fall down. “Why did you just do that?” Yi hissed at the man, that had shoot at Jin.

“I didn’t aim him first” The man answered then Yi looked at Jin’s face, seeing his eyes half-open, noticing him trying to fight against the neutralization serum and Yi clapped with both of her hands on Jin’s cheeks to wake him up, but he ended up closing his eyes and is held by Yi as he fell towards the ground with his back, but his landing is soft thanks to Yi.

“Jin, please don’t leave me alone” Yi pleaded holding the hands of the boy, then she heard the man reload his tranquilizer gun and held it down at Yi’s shoulder.

“Shall I?” The man asked, then heard someone call for Yi and he looked at the other side of the road to see Peng show up along with Dave, which was a few centimeters away from the child. Zara nodded and she ran towards Peng, which stopped and made his way back to escape the woman while the man stood back with Yi seeing her lie her forehead on Jin’s slowly starting to have tears in her eyes. The man sighed and released a dart at the girl’s shoulder to strike her out.


	26. Chapter 26

** **Chapter** ** ** **2** ** ** **6** **

Inside a large transporter, Zara sat on the co-driver seat looking out at the street, where they were driving. Behind the transporter, the whole rear of the car was a giant cage for animals. Inside the cage, on the floor Jin and Yi lied with their eyes closed, still down from the serum of the tranquilizer darts.

“Are you sure the other kid wouldn’t be the better choice for this task?” The partner of Zara asked glancing quickly at the woman, without leaving the road for more seconds.

“I have the feeling our success will work better if we use the girl” Zara mentioned. “We both know how attached she was to that yeti when she tried to fight us off”

“Good point” The man added.

“If she follows our instructions without any hesitation. She won’t have to worry about her friend’s life”

“And which of the friends are you going to use to blackmail her?”

“We’ve got both boys one or the other will have to suffer until she agrees to help us” Zara mentioned earning a neutral look from the man, which looked back to the street. “These kids can’t do anything to stop us from our goal”

On the back of the vehicle, Jin groaned and moved with his hands on the ground slowly getting up to see, where he was. Jin noticed Yi lying on the side of the cage and Jin approached the girl grabbing her on the shoulders turning her around to him, then he shook her on the arms trying to wake her up.

“Yi wake up” Jin whispered while shaking the girl, slowly bringing her back to life. “Yes open your eyes,” Jin asked seeing the girl slowly opening her eyes and notice Jin in front of her eyes.

“Jin?” Yi started. “W….where are we?”The girl asked the boy, which looked around the cage, then shrugged his shoulders.

“In danger. I’ve got no doubts about it” Jin mentioned looking across the van to spot Zara sitting on the co-driver seat, making him frown his eyebrows. “How gentle from your side to lock us in a dog cage,” Jin bellowed across the vehicle at the woman.

“Good morning you two….or should I say….good evening,” Zara said looking back at the cage to see Jin with his hands on the grid beside Yi, which had also placed her hands on it, then she looked around her to realize she was all alone with Jin in the cage.

“Where are Peng and Dave?” Yi asked and Jin looked around the cage, then looked back at Yi with wide eyes realizing now their absence.

“Were they caught?” Jin asked hearing Zara chuckling and making her way up to the cage.

“They’re in another van don’t worry. As long as you two follow our instructions, they will be left alive”

“Left alive!?!” Jin barked angrily at the comment. “Don’t you dare to harm them in any way, they have done nothing!” Jin hissed watching Zara taking from her jacket her smartphone out, then tapped on it to stabilize a call, then she turned the screen horizontally to herself and she had on her video call another guy sitting on the co-driver seat.

“ _What’s up?”_

“Hey Kim, I want you to show me the two prisoners,” Zara asked earning a nod from the man with soul patch chin facial hairstyle and he turned his smartphone to the cage to show Peng and Dave standing in front of the lattice gazing sadly at the staff.

“Peng!” Jin shouted in chorus along with Yi at seeing the two in the same stage of danger as them.

“Kim give them a little foretaste of our medicine” Zara demanded and turned her smartphone around to show the video to Jin and Yi.

_The man walked at a middle-sized box, where two controllers stood on it. Both of them had a post-it note on it, one has a stick man figure and the second one had a child stick figure. Kim picked up the controller with the stick man figure and pointed at Dave, which swallowed hard and the man pressed the green button causing Dave to bob around as he got am electronic shocked._

“Oh oh,” Yi and Jin mumbled seeing the adult get shocked by something.

“You’re insane!” Jin hissed making Zara laugh and turn the smartphone off.

“I would keep your mouth shut, cause they’re not the only ones to wear a shock collar” The woman warned, then backed off as Jin had shoved his arm between the grids trying to take the smartphone off her hand.

“Give me that smartphone!” Jin hissed moving his hand back and forth, then Zara walked back to the driver cabin and picked up a similar controller to the one, that was used by the crew members and she held it up and pressed on the green button, causing Yi to scream as her collar had caused her a electroshock.

“Yi!” Jin shouted terrified from seeing the girl totter around.

“Oh, wrong controller” Zara mentioned, then removed the cap from the batteries and placed it back on the dashboard in front of her and picked the other controller.

“You’re okay?” Jin asked earning a nod from the girl. Jin pulled down Yi’s sock to spot the electronic device and he gazed at her startled about the device. Zara pressed on the second controller on the green button causing Jin to yell out loudly in pain. “Argh!”

“Leave him in peace!” Yi shouted watching Zara take her finger off the button to stop the electroshock on Jin.

“Which idiot made these things?” Jin asked pulling on the right side of his trouser the bit up to spot a shock collar around his leg.

“This is used to shock dogs when they misbehave their owner. Except I’m using it on you two instead,”   
“You’re using something for animals on a human?” Yi asked.

“That’s nasty!” Jin complained watching Zara press again on the green button to shock Jin again, which cried again.

“Please stop that!” Yi shouted and Jin leaned his head against the grid breathing hard. Zara looked at her controller, then over the button was a small wheel, which was set on number 3 and it was able to be set between 1 and 6, the latter one, being the strongest shock it was able to perform.

“Oh it shouldn’t be on this number” Zara mentioned pulling it back to one, then she pressed on the button, causing Jin to jump by the small pinch he got from the collar.

“You don’t say?” Jin added annoyed with the woman, then she approached the cage and showed the teens the controller of the electric collar.

“Listen you two, I will need one of you to go out there at the mountain and lure the yeti as close as possible. Otherwise, I will have to blow up your foot, if any of you decide to play out smart and try to escape,” Zara warned the duo in front of her, which looked at each other frightened about the treatment of the villain.

“Zara, I think we’re close enough to the valley,” The driver told the raven-haired woman.

“Alright” Zara said opening a coffer to take out a large, black winter coat along with a white one and she put on the white coat on her and walked at the door, then took out from the pocket from her pants the key to the cage and opened it up for the two. “And Jin, if I were you I would leave your hands back, cause I’ve got your controller and one wrong movement….” Zara mentioned shaking the controller in her hand, making Jin frown.

“Listen to her Jin. It’s safer” Yi mentioned, watching Zara grab the girl on her hand and pulling her out of the cage shrieking Jin at seeing how coldly she treats his romantic interest.

“Doctor Zara, don’t take her!” Jin ordered making the woman chuckle.

“Why not?” Zara asked looking at Jin.

“Because I should be the one on her place luring the yetis at us. I’m the one, who ran away and told my friends about your evil plans. If it wasn’t for me, your team would have caged Everest long time ago and we would have gone back to our old life without interfering with you anymore”

“Jin, what are you talking about?” Yi asked. “Nothing, that happened was your fault,”

“She’s right, it isn’t your fault” Zara mentioned. “You’re not the one, who ran away with the yeti”

“I just wanted to bring her and my cousin back, safe and sound. The same I want to do it too,” Jin said approaching the adult, which held Yi on her arm. “Send me into the snow instead” Jin added, then Zara shrugged her shoulders and took her hand off Yi, then hit the boy on his back with the controller, telling him to step in front. As Zara came along with him Yi took the opportunity and jumped at Zara’s back trying to pull her down.

“Yi no!” Jin shouted as his crush had attacked the woman and the driver caught the controller, that belonged to Yi’s shock collar and used it, causing Yi to cry.

“Ouch!” Yi cried making Jin wide his eyes in shock and the man stopped, then Jin grabbed her, helping her sat up on the ground. “Sorry”

“You shouldn’t have done that” Jin scolded the girl, then Zara clawed on Jin’s shoulder pulling him up.

“Come on, the quicker we have this job done, you can come back to your girlfriend,” Zara said putting the jacket on Jin, afterward he pulled up the zipper far up to his neck and gazed down at Yi, which walked back into the cage and watched Zara close the cage again. “Here’s the key again,” Zara said throwing the key at the hands of the man, which nodded at the woman.

“Are you sure I should stay here?” The man asked. “It’s not like the girl knows how to escape from that cage with us out there”

“I might call you later among the others. First, we need to certify, if there’s any yeti around here” Zara mentioned earning a nod from the man. Zara opened the side door of the vehicle and jumped out of the car and before Jin left he gazed back at Yi, which saw the boy with a sad face, then Jin walked towards the cage placing his hands on the grid again.

“Sorry for being such an egoist, but I can’t see you go out there to do something you totally don’t want to do it,”

“I hope the yetis will realize they’re in danger and they disappear,”

“If Everest is present, I believe he will know, what to do,” Jin said. “He saved us that last time and he will do the same to me”

“What if he isn’t there? Or what if he fails?” Yi asked watching Jin put his arm between the grids to grab Yi’s hand.

“They’re supernatural…..well you know, they’ve got these powers….eh never mind. I’ll be back in safety and these guys will learn to not mess with mother nature like this ever again. I promise” Jin said making Yi chuckle softly, making Jin smile and lean his face down at the grid pointing his lips to kiss the girl, but he got electroshocked before he even could perform it. “Are you crazy?!?!” Jin cursed angrily looking at Zara, which stood on the outside of the vehicle.

“I’ve told you, if any of you disobeys this happens” Zara boasted waiting for Jin to leave the vehicle, afterward she closed the door leaving Yi back with the former leader of the Burnish industries.

“Your friend there is dauntless,” The man said making Yi roll her eyes.

“He’s not the only one” Yi mentioned.

“You’re also courageous. I don’t see many girls around your age to be that brave” The man said. “I mean in my surroundings most of the girls are more reserved and wouldn’t try to fight unless they weren’t alone or in real danger”

“I’ve got used to deal with various dangerous situations when I was younger. Alone or together with Jin, I used to be the one to align on everything no matter how much danger or trouble it would cause us. Jin mostly was there to protect me and help me out of the trouble I caused,” Yi told the man, that sat on the driver seat. “By the time we got older and the dead of my father, I hung out less with anyone and I became a little antisocial,”

“You also lost your father?” The man asked interested, seeing Yi roll her eyes up at the man.

“Yeah” Yi spoke quiet. “Did you too?” The raven-haired girl questioned earning a nod from the man.

“I was around 13 or 14 when my father passed away. He was driving home on a very rainy day and he didn’t see well with the headlights of the car. He realized too late, that right in front of him was a roundabout and he flew above it, crashing into a building,”

“Oh no”

“I also matured earlier than other of my classmates, because I had more responsibilities at home and had to work part-time to help my mother,”

“Your family had financial problems then around your childhood?” Yi asked earning a nod from the adult. “When did you end up working for Mr. Burnish and Dr. Zara?”

“As I worked as a security at the mall I witnessed a thief trying to rob Mr. Burnish and I stopped the man and gave Burnish his money back and he offered me a job at his Industry, which I accepted” The man explained. “I worked on the late evening most of the times, when Zara was there too, which led the other laborants there in the laboratory,”

“When did you start to work for her…..you know because of the yetis?”

“It was on the week we managed to capture the yeti. Zara had told me about the profit we would make out at the exhibition when introducing the world the yeti. The press would be there, several journalists and some vets and zoologists around the world. Millionaires and Billionaires, everyone was interested to see the animal. This was going to be one of the highest gross in the industries and Zara was so fixed to do anything to obtain for the industries that and that since the first two successes with the whopping snakes and the screaming pelican,”

“And why did you join?” Yi asked seeing the man shrug his arms a little sad.

“Well I lived in the fear, that my mother couldn’t handle to deal with her life while I would live with my wife and kids away and so I took every opportunity Zara offered me to assist her, so I could save up enough money for both of my families,” The man told the teenager. “After the yeti had escaped from the laboratory Zara had become more determined with getting it back, she seemed to have got colder than she had already been. I was…...a little surprised at how she talked about, she would get rid of you kids when we would get the yeti back, but I felt like this wasn’t going to happen, because what would be the point of killing them anyway? We could simply drop you off somewhere and let you go your own way since if it is hard for Burnish to prove the existence of yetis, it would be twice as hard as it was for him to prove the same”

“And after your and Zara’s fall from the mountain, you still stuck with her in all these schemes to prove all this, you were trying before?” Yi asked seeing the man shake his head.

“We split up and never saw us each other again. I got my old job back and tried to make the best out of it as long as it worked. Zara then just showed up in front of my house as I came back from work and told me about Dave and the boy being on the way to the Himalayas with the ashes of Mr. Burnish and had the idea to pursue them, so she could get close to the yeti again and catch him with the help of the others. I didn’t want to join her, I just did, cause…..I don’t know, she said it would just be us all catching the yeti and nothing more,”

“And she’s doing more, than what she said” Yi added making the man nod. “You received after your fall last year a second chance to live. You should use this chance to avoid making the same mistakes you did before. I did that as I managed to survive the fall from that bridge down at the Mount Everest”

“Now it’s too late,” The man said. “We’re already out here”

“I know, but we can still change a few things to stop this, right?” The girl questioned the man, who thought about it and nodded.

“You’re right” The man answered getting up and walking towards the cage to unlock the door for her. The man pulled the sock down, where the shock collar was and opened up the buckle up of the collar, taking it off from her leg. “There you go, free like a bird”

“Thanks,” Yi said watching the man look from the driver cabin out at the road, then looked back at Yi.

“Okay, I’ve got an idea. I’ll be guiding out the other members and after I disappear with the others, you go back to the other van and free your friends” The man said taking from the open chest two white jackets out, handing the smaller one to Yi, so that both could put one on.

“What will be about Jin?” Yi asked the tall man.

“I will make sure none of the team harms him” The man promised making Yi smile, then he opened the door and signaled the girl to stay back and walked behind the van.

  
  


On the snow-covered valley, Jin walked alone on the snow looking over the place for any hints of any yetis.

“ _I don’t think they will show up,”_ Jin thought continuing to investigate the white ground around him. “The only thing I’m going to encounter here is my death...real soon” Jin complained moving forwards.

Jin looked behind him while walking to see if he could see Zara and the others from the team, but he couldn’t spot them anywhere.

“They’re either too far away or they’re wearing enough white to almost turning invisible,” Jin told himself. “Or you’re supposed to be silent in the valley of silence since that’s the name of it”

Jin soon was getting closer to large mountain peaks in front of him, therefore Jin looked up at the height of the mountains and whistled.

“Gosh, how am I supposed to climb them up?” Jin asked himself, then he felt a minor shock, making him jump. “Okay, okay, I’ll do it” Jin argued with a frown looking back, still wondering where Zara and her team were in the snow. Jin looked up at the rocks of the mountain in front of him, then studied how he should climb the rocks up without materials and he looked back to look out for the team. “I think I need more than my bare hands to climb this up,” Jin said a little loud waiting for someone to appear, but no one did. Jin rolled his eyes and shove his hands back into the pocket of his jacket waiting for any clue from the redheaded woman. Jin heard someone giggle, which called his attention and he looked around himself wondering, from where it came.

“Hello?” Jin called. “Is anyone here?” Jin asked observing the surroundings spotting no one around him. Jin raised his right eyebrow bewildered, then he widened his eyes as he felt something grab him on the foot and he glanced down seeing a white, fluffy fuzzball in front of his feet. Jin widened his eyes and looked down again in shock to recognize, there was a small creature playing with the ties of the shoe.

“Hey,” Jin said looking down at the fluffy creature, then it looked up at him with bright light-blue eyes tilting its head bewildered at seeing Jin. Jin smiled at the sight of the creature and went down on his knees. “Wow, what a cute little guy you are” Jin complimented seeing the lean its head on Jin’s leg rubbing it up and down, then looked up at Jin shaking his back like a canine. “You look like a mini-version of Everest. Do you know him?” Jin asked placing his hand on the cub’s head, then the animal grabbed Jin’s hand, making him feel a little unsure and the cub moved his thumb up and down, then smiled at Jin, making Jin look confused wondering what the cub was signaling him. Jin placed his thumb down, then the yeti cub placed his thumb over Jin, starting to chuckle excited. Jin smiled as he understood, the yeti cub wanted Jin to play with him.

“Hey I didn’t know you guys knew how to play thumb war” Jin mentioned, then he realized, that the cub might be related with Everest. “You’re might be Everest’s child, right?” Jin asked watching the cub grab his hand again, wanting Jin to play. “Hey little guy, can you tell me who your daddy is?” Jin asked grabbing the hand of the cub, gazing into the eyes of the cub. “You know very tall and…...a male?” Jin tried to explain, then the cub pulled down Jin’s hand to the snow, making Jin furrow his eyebrows wondering, what the boy was doing. “No, I don’t want to arm wrestle. I want to know, who your father is” Jin explained watching the cub stuck his tongue out making a cute noise. Jin sighed at not being able to explain the animal, what he wanted and heard another noise, then he noticed a pair of yeti cubs appearing to meet the cub, that was with Jin.

“Oh boy,” Jin said looking at the two new cubs, that came along and the third one looked at Jin with an angry face, afterward, he started to growl at Jin. “Easy there, I’m not going to hurt any of your friends,” Jin said, then he widened his eyes remembering, why he was sent out there. “Quick, get out of there” Jin began trying to hush the cubs away from him, making two of them look surprised at Jin while the third one bit Jin on his hand making him scream.

“Ouch!”

The yeti cub kept growling at Jin, which held his hand to his body and looked back to see, where the team was and spotted far away the head of one of the members, which held with him a black tranquilizer shotgun on his arms.

“Please you three have to leave, you’re in danger” Jin explained the kids, then watched the small cub roar at Jin. “I’m serious, you’re in danger” Jin mentioned, then the yeti cub smiled as he looked behind Jin and the teenage boy felt something behind him and he looked back to see a yeti, who was almost two head taller, than him. Jin wide his eyes in panic as he encountered a yeti, then in stepped back staring at the serious looking yeti and Jin stopped to observe the yeti stare down at the boy, then the yeti furrowed his eyebrows, tilting its head slowly looking at Jin.

“Everest?” Jin spoke raising his eyebrows up, then the yeti smiled as the boy had recognized him and the yeti grabbed Jin pulling him into a hug shrieking Jin. “Whoa easy there big boy” Jin mentioned as the animal excitedly greeted his friend. Everest dropped Jin down and mumbled at the yeti cubs, which exchanged looks with each other and nodded. “Everest you have to bring the cubs and yourself in safety. Zara and her minions are using me to lock you out of here” Jin mentioned making Everest tilt his head.

“Huh?”

“Yi and Peng are in danger and they threatened to hurt them if no one of us would go out here to trick you. I need help” Jin explained making Everest look at him shocked. Jin placed his hands on his leg to show Everest the shock collar he had attached to him. One of the cubs approached the collar sniffing on it, then a red light blinked and it gave Jin an electric shock, making him yell, shrieking Everest and the cubs. Jin fell on the snow, then tried to get up looking up at the yetis.

“As long as they have the controller, they…..can do this…...when I don’t obey them” Jin explained, then the pre-teen aged yeti nodded and pulled the yeti cubs close to Jin, signaling them to stay. “Don’t worry, your father is going to handle them,” Jin said making Everest wide his eyes and look back at him groaning insulted at Jin’s comment. “You’re not a dad yet, right?” Jin asked and Everest looked at the other side of the valley seeing a few men show up all dressed in white jackets while wielding a dart gun with them aiming at the young yeti. Everest growled and ran against the group, which prepared themselves for their shot, waiting for the yeti to get closer to them. Two cubs hid behind Jin watching in fright Everest on the other side, where the team stood aiming at the white creature, that before they could shot at him Everest roared loudly at them, shrieking them from the wind Everest’s breath did towards them.

  
  


Zara was behind the group holding her arm in front of her face as the snow creature blew them almost down, then she grabbed one of the team members by the jacket, pushing him forwards to go towards the yeti.

“Move it!” She shouted. “We are the majority” Zara pointed out holding the dart gun at the yeti, which slapped with his paw against the snow throwing it against the group, followed by another roar to shriek the group more. “Just take the shot!” Zara ordered the group, then a few shot at the yeti, which soon as they had released the darts had take a jump up in the air and he landed back on the ground. Everest growled having the group insight, then he roared again, this time an amount of snow had magically being thrown towards the group thanks to Everest’s natural gift.

“What was that?” A team member asked from the way the snow had been thrown at the group.

“He didn’t use his paws”

“Come on, keep trying it!” Zara ordered passing the snow, that covered her aside so that at least her arms were out of it and she pointed out at Everest, then Everest gave the group another taste of the snow covering their arms again. Everest quickly ran back to Jin and the cubs to make sure they were okay, then looked down at Jin’s leg, where he had the shock collar on. Everest rolled his eyes back and forth of the collar, then Jin looked at Everest and noticed behind on the snow Zara uncovering herself quick from the snow, then she stuck her hand inside her jacket to take out a black-colored handgun, making Jin wide his eyes.

“Everest watch out for her, she’s got a shotgun and that could hurt you really bad” Jin warned the yeti, which looked at Zara getting out from the snow pointing the gun at the animal. Everest held his arms in front of the litter behind him, growling at Zara waiting for her to take the shot.

“A bullet comes out really fast, Everest,” Jin mentioned, then Everest shoos Jin away with his hind leg, soon as Zara pulled the trigger Everest hummed pulling out a piece of stone out of the mountain, throwing it against the flying bullet and it ricochets the bullet on it, making Zara furrow her eyebrows annoyed as she had failed and she tried it again, followed by another time watching her bullet getting blocked by another piece of stone.

“This is not happening right now!” Zara cursed pulling the trigger for a third time, followed by a fourth and fifth time, watching Everest block them all with minor pieces of rock, he pulled out of the mountain with his magic. The team managed to get out of the snow and gazed a little frightened with the creature and Zara noticed the team still, then got angry with them.

“What are you all looking at?” Zara asked the team. “Shot at the yeti!”

The team watched Everest growling at the team, then a few backed away from the zone dropping their guns down on the ground.

“Where are you all going?” The redhead asked. “Take the shot!” Exclaimed the woman and a few held up their guns again, aiming Everest which glared at the group again waiting for the first man to shot. Behind him, Jin was trying to open the collar around his leg and from far Zara had noticed him fiddling on his leg. Afterward, Zara took out from the pocket of her jacket the controller of Jin’s shock collar and moved the arrow to number 6, which had a small, yellow triangle warning her from the danger of that level. Zara looked at the boy holding the controller in front her ready to press the green button, but suddenly someone jumped at her back, wrapping the arms around her neck causing her to fall down while dropping the controller.

“Hey!” Zara shouted, then noticed it was Yi, who had brought the redhead down at the ground. “How did you get out of the cage?” Zara asked watching Yi get up to grab the controller to quickly remove the batteries and throw them far away from the group.

“You little rat!” Zara complained, then Yi threw the controller back at the woman’s hands running down to Everest and Jin.

Everest saw Yi running towards him to give him a hug, making him purr as he encountered his old friend.

“I’m glad to see you,” Yi said, then Everest growled as a few members tried to dart him down, but he hummed to build up a snow shield to catch up the few darts, that were coming towards them.

“What are you doing here?” Jin asked watching Yi bend down to help him remove the collar off his leg.

“I wanted to make sure you two were okay” Yi mentioned getting up from the ground while helping the boy up then noticed on Jin’s arms marks of teeth on his arms. “Uh did Everest bite you?” Yi asked watching shake his head.

“Uh a yeti cub” Jin answered and the two raven-haired teens watched now a bigger part of the group running away, then Zara took her gun up in the air to give out a warning shot to scare the team and look back at here.

“We ain’t leaving until we got the yeti. Is that clear?!?” Zara announced making Yi wide her eyes in shock on Zara’s determination to catch Everest.

“She’s insane,” Jin told Yi, which frowned her eyebrows serious and she ran towards the redhead, shrieking Everest and Jin at watching the girl going to the villain. “Yi, no!” Jin shouted running behind her, then Zara had turned around to see Yi approach her and she pointed her gun at the teenage girl while pulling the trigger to shot Yi down, but as Zara had released the bullet Jin ran beside Yi jumping at the friend getting hit by the bullet on his shoulder.

“Jin!” Yi cried as she saw her friend being hit and landing on top of her. Yi turned the boy around seeing him warp his face from the pain.

“Jin, you’re okay?” Yi asked placing her hand on his shoulder, where she saw a whole on the jacket and a little blood on the skin, which was covered by the jacket.

“Rip off a bit of my….shirt and f….asten it around my ….arm” Jin spoke in mid-groans at Yi, which tried to pull the sleeve from Jin’s jacket carefully, then from behind Yi Zara held the gun behind her head shrieking him, however after pulling the trigger the gun did nothing and Zara groaned irritated as she had used her last ammo before on Jin and instead she now hit hard with the gun on Yi’s head, causing her to fall down on Jin setting him in panic.

“Yi!” Jin’s voiced echoes around the valley shrieking Everest including the rest of the team. Zara stepped back with a fleeting smile, then she picked up her tranquilizer gun and aimed at the yeti, which was looking down at Jin who moved Yi’s head watching the girl slowly opening her eyes. “Yes open them up” Jin as the girl had opened them up, followed by Jin leaning his forehead on Yi’s. “Are you alright?” Jin asked, then heard Zara scold her team.

“That’s our last chance, take that yeti down!” Zara shouted with half of the team, were unsure, if they should follow her instructions, then four of the team pointed at Everest, which looked now back at the team showing his teeth to the team to intimidate them. “Point at different parts of his body” Zara mentioned, then noticed Everest looking up at the mountain followed by a few of the minions, which looked terrified as they saw behind the mountain a giant, white creature appear gazing down at the humans, then it jumped down on the ground landing in front of Everest releasing a loud growl up in the air to scare them.

“Th….that’.ssss…..the….f…..f….father” One of the stammered in panic from the size of the adult yeti in front of them.

“Run!” Another teammate yelled starting to ran away along with the rest of the team, except for Zara, which aimed the adult yeti with her gun and the adult yeti roared loudly blowing Zara away causing her to land on two of women of the group. Zara looked back at the yeti, which roared again setting the woman in panic and make her way out of there with the rest of the team.

Everest looked up at the tall yeti and pointed at Yi, afterward at Zara, which was running away with the others and the adult yeti followed the team leaving Everest back with the raven-haired teens.

“Where is he going?” Jin asked the yeti friend, which shrugged his arms.

“He’s not going to kill her isn’t he?” Yi asked watching Everest shake his head giving out a short mumble. “Great”

“What did he say?” Jin asked.

“I think something like he wouldn’t ever do that” Yi, answered, then she looked back at Jin’s arm again and whistled at Everest, which turned around at her smiling at her excited. “Can you heal Jin’s arm?” Yi asked earning a nod from the yeti child, which closed his eyes and started to hum a melody and the two teens watched the bullet get removed by Everest’s magic, followed by his injury slowly healing until his red mark had disappeared completely leaving his arm just like it was before.

“W…..wow” Jin quoted as he saw his arm had got healed by the mountain creature. “Thank you, Everest,” Told Jin the furry friend, which smiled courteously at the boy.

“Everest!” A voice shouted and the trio looked at the valley to see Peng run over the snow towards them. Everest looked at Jin and Yi, then Jin gave Everest a thumb up and saw Everest head to the child to welcome him in his arms.

“Great to see you’re okay little cuz” Jin mentioned approaching Everest along with Yi, then placed his hand on the yeti’s arm.

“Was that Everest’s dad?” Peng asked. “I saw him running behind all the people of Zara”

“He’s just scaring them all away from here” Yi mentioned. “Hopefully, that will be the last time they’ll put their feet on here”

“Where is Dave?” Jin asked looking at Peng.

“He said we would come later after they catch Zara” Peng answered.

  
  


Meanwhile, the last transporter of the line had left the road, while Zara entered into the vehicle, that was in front of the transporter and Zara pressed on the start button of the engine, then noticed that the car couldn’t turn on due to the missing key.

“Where’s the key?” Zara asked, then someone knocked on the window of the car and it was Dave, which held on his hand the keys. “Dave!” Zara hissed, then from the side appeared the partner, which friendly slapped Dave on the back. Zara moved to the co-driver seat and Dave locked the van with the keys, which avoided Zara to get out of the car. Zara angrily tried to open the door making the two men chuckle. The two men walked away leaving Zara back, which opened under the dashboard of the car the glove compartment, then she encountered the second key of the vehicle and tried to turn the engine on, which she managed after a few times pressing on it. Zara grinned in success, then drove the vehicle back, then she shrieked as she crashed against something afterward she looked at the side mirrors to see the adult yeti hit on the cage trailer that was attached to Zara’s vehicle and she switched her gear back to drive and drove forward trying to turn the vehicle on the small road, the felt the wheel of the car drop on the side of the road and the redhead moved the shift gear back to reverse and tried to drive back, but the wheels of the car were spinning on the ground unable to roll on the road. Zara flinched her teeth as she couldn’t manage to drive the car back, then she shrieked as the yeti had leaned his back on the corner of the cage to scratch it, followed by a groan of enjoyment. Zara noticed the car slowly dropping the head off the road and the woman jumped back at the cabin of the vehicle running at the side of the vehicle to open the door, but the door kept sliding down due to the position of the car. Zara tried it again, then she felt on the floor of the vehicle and she crawled on the floor up at the cage and heard the trailer out on the road fall down, because of the yeti.

The yeti had caused the trailer to fall down, then passed his paw behind his back annoyed with having injured himself on the back, then he pushed the trailer away with his leg out of the road, which made the van lose its equilibrium on the road and as Zara managed to open the door she screeched as the car was about to fall off the road and as the vehicle felt down Zara, also ended up losing her balance tumbling down into the vehicle and the only thing the yeti could see was the vehicle smash a couple of times on the rocky mountain, watching it disappear in the darkness.

“Oh….” The yeti marveled at witnessing the falling vehicle, then looked up at Dave and his previous boss looking down at the darkness, then they looked up at the giant yeti.

“We come in peace,” Dave said holding his hands up.

“We’re friends” The man explained the yeti, which nodded and grabbed the two and held his hand flat, so they could stand on it.

“That’s one nice view” Dave complimented looking at the yeti, while the other man was hugging the yeti’s thumb frightened about the height. The yeti chuckled and walked back to the valley.


	27. Chapter 27

** **Chapter** ** ** **2** ** ** **7** **

Upwards at the top of the Mount Everest along with the help of Everest’s father the three kids from Shanghai along with Dave and his former boss arrived on the same place they had arrived together with Everest last year and on the ground three yeti cubs ran towards Everest and hugged him, seeing he was alright. Yi smiled enchanted as she saw the three cubs with Everest, then she approached the child yeti to see them closer. 

“Are these your siblings?” Yi asked making Everest shake his head and point at Jin and Peng, which were approaching the two. “Cousins?” Yi asked earning a nod from the yeti.

“Are they all boys?” Jin asked Everest, which shook his head and pointed at the second yeti and the third one. “Two boys?” Jin asked earning a nod from Everest. “Sweet” Jin complimented, then the second yeti cub approached Jin growling at him again, making Jin groan at the young litter still seeing Jin as a threat. Everest gave the growling cub a gentle smile, then the cub stopped growling and smiled at Jin and crawled at the boy to give him a hug on the leg.

“Aww” All gushed in chorus from seeing the cub hugging the leg of Jin. Yi went down on her knees holding her hands out at one of the cubs and the first yeti, which is the female walked up at Yi and let Yi grab her and she held the cub in her arms almost letting it fall down due to the weight of the cub. “You’re a little….strong” Yi mentioned trying to hold the cub closer to her face, then had the cub nudge her face on Yi’s forehead.

“I made a new friend again” Jin stated happy, then cried as the yeti cub decided to bite Jin’s hand again, making the little animal chuckle, making Jin shake his head amused by the amusement of the cousin of Everest.

“Hey Everest, have you ever played in a snowball fight?” Peng asked the child yeti, which shook his head. “Come with me, I show you how it works” The Chinese kid mentioned placing his backpack on the ground before running out at the snow-covered ground with the yeti and started to build a small wall out of snow. Jin sat down on the snow to pet the yeti cub on the head, then Yi sat next to him with her yeti on the arms while playing with her, as if she was a toddler.

“Hey wanna play rock, paper, scissor?” Jin offered the cub. “You know” Jin explained forming his hand into a V, then into a fist and the cub nodded understanding, what Jin asked for and held his paw behind his paw. “One, two, three, go!” Jin began holding his flat hand up and the cub made with his fingers a V, scoring one point. “Good, you made one point” Jin mentioned making Yi chuckle.

“You’re losing towards a cub?” Yi questioned making Jin shake his head.

“The game has just started yet, my dear” Jin mentioned, then looked back at the yeti again. “One, two, three, go!” Jin made a V with his hands while the yeti held out a fist. “Again, one, two, three, go!” Jin made a scissor again and the yeti had again held his fist up like a stone. “One, two, three, go!” Jin made a fist and so did the yeti, which didn’t give any of the two a point. “One, two, three, go!” Jin made a paper and the cub made a V, making the boy frown. “How haven’t I scored yet?” Jin asked holding his hand flat and the cub did again the scissor. “I better stay with video games and board games,”

“You’re doing it well. You’re just unlucky” Yi mentioned.

“Hahaha,” Jin said ironically, then the cub watched Everest hide behind a snow-made wall while on the other side beside another wall Peng had thrown a snowball toward Everest landing on the ground beside Everest. The cub, that played with Jin ran at Everest, then made his own snowball and showed it to Everest, which nodded at the cub and he walked to the side to see if he could hit Peng with it.

“It’s great how they’re learning games to play with each other” Jin mentioned, then the other yeti cub pulled Jin on his arms and pointed at the other cub on Yi’s hands, making Jin grin amused at the cub’s favor and he grabbed the yeti lying him down on his arms, then he tickled the cub on the nose making it giggle. “You’re got such beautiful eyes, don’t you? Don’t you?” Jin spoke in a playful voice tickling the yeti’s nose making it laugh. Yi gazed at Jin being all fatherly with the cub and smiled enamored at the scene. “They’re so adorable” Jin confessed taking his hand off the cubs, which grabbed it with his paws to pull it back to him, then Jin sat the cub up, which smiled at the boy big and licked his face up, causing Jin to wail about it.

“Not you too” The raven-haired boy complained about the yeti licking him up with a larger tongue wetting the side of his face including a part of his hair. Yi laughed at the friend, then got licked on her face by the female yeti, making her move her head away from the animal to avoid the sticky tongue.

The third yeti cub came back and yipped to obtain the attention of his fellows, which were dropped down by the teens and the three ran together to Everest, afterward Everest pointed at the new playmates to go to the other side, where Peng was to play in his group.

Jin stood up along with Yi, then both observed the cubs play together with Everest and Peng smiling at the joy they had all in the snowball fight.

“I never saw Peng having so much fun in a snowball fight” The medical student mentioned earning a nod from the girl.

“I think it’s more because of Everest and his cousins” The girl mentioned. “He was hoping he would get the chance to see Everest again and now we’re all here with him” Jin stated earning a nod from the girl.

“I think it was good to come along” Yi mentioned earning a nod from the boy.

“Yeah what if Zara had managed to get, what she wanted?” Jin asked making Yi shrug her shoulders.

“I don’t know, but I think Everest could have handled it. He knows Zara wasn’t quite the nicest person we’ve met, but he wouldn’t do the same mistake he did in the first place to get caught”

“You’re right”

Everest looked back at Yi and Jin and moved his arm, calling the two to join, then Jin lifted his hand thanking Everest for the offer, but he refused it. Everest frowned, then started to hum causing the snow around Jin to pick him up and carry him above the walls up to Peng, dropping him behind the wall.

“Well done Everest” Yi complimented joining Everest’s team, which smiled at the girl, then he shrieked as he got hit by a snowball and saw on the other side Jin laughing after he managed to hit Everest, then Jin widened his eyes as Everest made a snowball, which was as big as a snowman head.

“Everest no!” Jin shouted causing Everest to laugh at Jin’s reaction, before he threw it at Jin.

  
  


Dave and Zara’s old friend came along with a piece of large square-shaped ice and light pink squares on it and stopped to see the group on the snowball fight.

“Hey, who wants…..uh fish?” Dave offered unsure about the type of fish they had on the tablet-like ice.

“I think it’s salmon or…..it could also be tuna” The raven-haired man mentioned making Dave shrug his shoulder.

“Peng, Jin, there’s food for us” Yi mentioned watching the two boys leave the back of the wall and make their way up to the two adults, which had the fish on the ice.

“Mmm salmon,” Peng said looking at the ice tableau making Dave laugh.

“I think we need more fish” Dave mentioned and gave the ice to Yi, which took it and sat down with it at the snow-made wall with Jin and Peng next to her.

“Everest do you want one?” Yi asked watching Everest shake his head and hold his hand out, for her to understand, that it was for them only. “Your family probably eats a lot, don’t they?” Yi asked making Everest chuckle.

The three took all one piece to eat and they gazed up at the sky seeing the stars all over the place, making the trio look astonished by how beautiful the stars were up in the dark.

“I totally forgot about the stars” Jin mentioned earning a nod from Yi.

“Your father must be up there watching over you, Yi” Peng mentioned looking up at the girl which nodded.

“He would be proud of us right now” Jin mentioned earning a nod from Yi, while Peng sank his head down a little sad. Jin noticed it and placed his hand on Peng’s hands. “You’re alright cuz?”

“I’ve been thinking…...that this is the second time I brought you two into trouble” Peng started. “I’m sorry about both times”

“Peng don’t blame yourself for that, that’s all my fault….well the first time only. But you don’t need to break your head about that. It was a good thing, we wouldn’t have the chance to befriend Everest and save him from Zara’s hands”

“If we didn’t leave the docks on that night, we wouldn’t have bound more together” Jin mentioned. “We all changed for the better, if you didn’t jump back on that ship the other time I would still be the same self-absorbed douche and Yi would probably continue to avoid contact with her friends or family due to her father’s death,”

“Y...yes that’s kind of true”

“That what you did was the best thing you could have done to us. Even the second time now,”

“I and Yi wouldn’t have figured out, how important it would be to be present at the ash scattering of Mr. Burnish and…...well….” Jin said looking at Yi, which was a little bewildered at Jin and he glanced down at her hand and she got it, then she gave him her hand making the teenage boy smile. “The two of us got now really close together, what I didn’t expect to happen real early” Jin explained the cousin holding Yi’s hand up to his jacket, making Yi smile a little lovely at the boy. Peng moved both his eyebrows up realizing, what Jin was referring to.

“I knew you could do it Jin!” Peng shouted hitting with his fist on Jin’s arm. “What did she say?” The child asked making Jin chuckle.

“Well…..she made it clear, that she loves me” Responded Jin looking at Yi, which lied her head on Jin’s shoulder, followed by him placing his face over her.

“Great” Peng mentioned getting up to walk up at Everest, which was on the ground together with the yeti cubs. “Everest, Jin and Yi are now together, did you know that?” Peng asked making Jin chuckle along with Yi.

“We’re not that far yet” Jin warned getting up on his feet. “But we will achieve it, don’t worry” Jin promised helping Yi up with the fish bits.

“And how long is that going to take?” Peng asked taking a few fish bits from the ice tableau. “Two months?” The boy asked watching Jin swallow two bits of raw salmon.

“It will be one step after the other” Jin mumbled. “And no, it won’t be that long”

“Really?” Peng asked with a smirk,

“Don’t you believe it?” Jin asked crossing his arms making Peng shake his head. Everest who had been watching the three talk had an idea and tapped on Jin’s shoulder. “You believe it, right?” Jin asked the yeti which nodded, then opened his arms up making Jin tilt his head and Everest nodded at the boy, which then opened his arms. “Like this?” Jin asked earning a nod from the yeti which placed his paw behind Yi’s back, which gazed at the yeti questioningly, then Everest thrusts the girl against Jin’s arms while hitting with her forehead on Jin’s nose.

“Everest!” The boy fretted after his romantic interest had hurt his nose. Yi looked up at Jin, who had looked down at her smiling a little abashed and helped her stand straight on her legs, then noticed Peng go to Everest, which had held his fist up for the yeti to fist bump on it. Everest looked at his paw, then formed it into a fist and carefully touched with it on Peng’s fist which nodded.

“We can improve this later,” Peng said looking back at Jin, which observed Peng and the child gave his older cousin a thumb up, then the child yeti copied him making Jin nod. The boy gazed down at the girl, which smiled angelic at the boy, then Jin grabbed Yi’s left hand while he placed his right hand over Yi’s cheek, caressing it watching the girl close her eyes enjoying the affection he was giving her, soon he leaned his head closer to the girl pointing his lips, followed by the girl closing her eyes and going up on her foot tips to get closer to Jin to share her very first kiss.

Peng and Everest looked at each other glad about their friends, then gazed back at them seeing Yi place her arms on Jin’s body and after a couple of seconds, both ended their kiss, gazing at each other romantically followed by Everest rumbling, afterward the two teens gazed at Everest, which smiled at the two along with Peng, which formed with his thumb and index finger a heart and Everest noticed Peng’s show of hands and copied it, earning an impressed smile from Yi.

“Well, we’re not the only ones to be happy about it” Jin mentioned placing his arm behind Yi’s shoulder, which gave him a short peck on the cheek.

“When are we going to scatter the ashes of Mr. Burnish?” Peng asked taking a tuna roll off the ice tableau.

“We can do this after dinner” Jin pointed out. “We still got out ride down there. We don’t have to wait for anyone else of the group”

  
  


  
  


  
  


Everest had accompanied along with his father and the humans back to the road, where the team had left the transporter. Peng carried the backpack with the urn and beside him walked his cousin along with Jin, Yi, Dave and the former leader of the group, that hunted Everest one year ago.

“I think that space is good enough for us all” The raven-haired man mentioned earning a nod from the rest of the group.

“And how does it work?” Peng asked looking at the adults and Dave shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know” He answered. “I think you have to say a few words and scatter the ashes all over the place”

Jin removed with Yi’s help the urn out of the backpack and noticed on the ground a smartphone and took it out.

“Is that your smartphone?” Yi asked showing it to the child, which shrugged his shoulders.

“I had noticed it on the trip, but forgot to ask Dave about it” Peng answered and the man with the clear face took the smartphone.

“Zara used this smartphone to track him all over China. That’s why we knew, where you were” The man answered.

“How did she know about the trip anyway?” Yi asked watching the man stove the smartphone in his jacket.

“She was in a restaurant on having lunch and heard Peng’s conversation with Dave how they were talking about the yeti and decided to hide her smartphone in it when no one would see it”

“Okay makes sense” Yi answered and she looked at the downhill on the side of the road, then glanced at Jin, which smiled a little tensed about the reunion.

“Who’s going to do the speech?” Peng asked, then Dave and the other adult looked at each other and the taller man raised his arm.

“I’ve been a little longer in business, so I take the honor of doing this”

“Sure” Dave agreed, then the man thought on how he should start it.

“Mr. Burnish loved the long walks and mountain climbing. Inspired by the documentary of the first two mountaineers to make it to the top of the Mount Everest he had got inspired to do the same as them, but by starting with other mountains before he took the chance to climb the Mount Everest for real. On that day he encountered on the top of the mountain a yeti, but he disappeared as soon as it felt threatened by him. Due to his leadership at the Burnish industries and the determination to prove the world, what he saw on the mountain was real he changed a lot during the years turning more cold, forgetting about the ones he loved, the only person in the family to be present was his sister and the people he worked with,” The man spoke. “Deep down inside him he is a really good man, just society made him feel bad about it and he began to do everything possible to be able to prove he isn’t wrong” The man mentioned looking at Dave, which continued.

“I always saw Mr. Burnish to be a very strict man, but I knew how stern he could be if we failed at our tasks in like keeping an animal encaged. On the road trip we all went out to look for Everest I noticed, that Mr. Burnish was very fond of the nature and at the begin, I had the feeling he really hasn’t been out on the nature for a really long time, due to his reaction on the trees all around us, which were regular broadleaf trees. In the end, Mr. Burnish has let Everest go, cause it would be safe for his species to stay hidden, cause not every person would accept them…...well, for their powers and their being. With the months Mr. Burnish began to change everything around his firm until it became what it is today, taking care of animals, that are close to extinct or regular animals, that are found on the streets”

Jin held his hand on the cap of the urn and he looked at the two friends next to him.

“Are you two going to say anything too?” Jin asked and Yi the girl looked at Peng, which shrugged his shoulders.

“I haven’t known you for so long as the others, but I’m thankful for everything good you did after assisting us to bring Everest back home. It’s sad you’re not here anymore with us. If there were more people out there like you doing that, it would be so good”

“Peng, do you want to say something?” Jin whispered earning a nod from Peng.

“Thank you for letting Everest go back to his home. I don’t know how to speak Yetish, but I know Everest was thankful for everything you did for us and anyone else…...After Miss Burnish told us about, what happened to you and told us about your last wish I felt obligated to do that, even when Jin and Yi weren’t well with the idea in the first place…..Thank you for trusting us with such a special mission” Peng finished and looked up at Jin, which thought on anything he could say in the speech of the group.

“I want to thank you for offering us the ride back to Shanghai after we successfully delivered Everest back to his parents. I got to know you as a really wise and experienced person…..Eventually, if I get the chance I’m taking one of Duchess’ kids to my house along with Peng as you offered. Kai had Yi taken with us in the first place, but after we met Mrs. Tsui we decided to let Kai stay with her since she needed a companion more than we did….” Jin stopped and looked back at the others, which looked at him neutrally, then Jin moved the cap and opened it up and moved the urn down to scatter the ashes which flew above them in the air. The trio watched together the ashes fly across the air, disappearing in the darkness making all the present members stay silent with their heads down. Peng slowly started to sob, then Jin passed behind Yi to hug the boy, which embraced the older cousin hard to cry onto his arms. Jin caressed Peng’s back and glanced at Yi, which gazed up at the sky to see the stars all over the place.

“Yi?” Jin whispered seeing Yi pass her hand under her eye to cover a tear, that streamed down her face and she looked back at the raven-haired boy.

“I just thought on my father” Yi explained, then Jin held out his hand for the girl, making her smile a little and she hugged him and Peng at the same time, which reciprocated it. Everest approached the trio and watched them split after the hug, then smiled at the trio and they jumped at Everest’s arms for an embrace making Everest happy and hold them tight on him.

The two adults smiled simper at seeing the kids sharing one last hug with the yeti child and Everest dropped them down and watched the yeti cubs run at the teens jumping at them.

“Be a good girl,” Yi told one of the cubs, which stood in front of Yi shaking his rear in happiness like a dog, then Yi kissed the cub on the forehead and watched the cub go at Jin, which went down on his knees to pet the cub on the head.

“I’m gonna miss holding them” Jin confessed, then got visited by the second cub, which jumped at Jin giving him a lick on his face and follows the first yeti, then the third yeti cub sat in front of the boy starting to growl again at the boy. “You still think I’m bad?” Jin asked shocked, then saw the cub laugh, making Jin smile enchanted by how adorable the laughter of the yeti sounded like. Jin widened his eyes and looked back to see the first two yetis having Jin’s shoes inside their mouth chewing on it making Jin groan annoyed. “So you two are the reason I’m going to freeze my feet off” Jin implied making Yi and Peng laugh at the current situation. “You know what, I offer it to you. So you can remember us” Jin enunciated making the cubs smile and continue to chew on the shoes of the teenage boy.

“We will get you a reserve for your feet, so we can get home in one piece” Yi offered the boy getting down on her own knees, earning a nod from Jin, which leaned his forehead on Yi’s making her smile.

“Okay, kids it’s time to go. We should get out of here carefully, mostly since the road isn’t good and we haven’t got enough seats for us all” The man with the pale face explained earning a nod from Yi and the others. Everest whimpered at his father, which nodded and Everest pointed at the vehicle and back to his father and the group looked at each other, wondering, what the kid was telling them.

“I think Everest said his father is going to bring us down,” Yi said and looked at Everest which nodded and made a tidal wave move with his arm. “With their powers, of course,” Yi added earning a thumb up from the yeti.

“Okay, get in and hold yourself tight. It might get a little turbulent” The man mentioned opening the side door of the vehicle for the whole crew to get back into the van. Dave and the adult sat in front of the cabin and gave the yetis a thumb up and the large yeti adult started to hum to call out a large cloud to pick up the vehicle and he stood on the back of the cloud behind the vehicle, then flew on the cloud away leaving the valley with the rest of the yeti youths back, which waved goodbye at their human friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally in my dream, Jin had gotten hit with Burnish’s ashes on his face as some sort joke, which I somehow believed it would have made sense since the humor would be somehow alike to canon. I left it out this time, cause I felt it was somehow wrong here.


	28. Chapter 28

** **Chapter** ** ** **2** ** ** **8** **

Peng sat on the bed of his cousin Jin watching a music video on Jin’s smartphone while the teen was rummaging around his desk searching for something.

“It was here. How can it just disappear like that?” Jin complained moving all the sheets on the corner of his table, separating them all one by one.

“What are you looking for?” Peng asked rolling his eyes back at the older boy.

“One envelope I promised Yi’s dad to give it to her on her birthday. I’m actually very late, but I kept forgetting it every time I was with Yi and now that her birthday is today, I remembered it” The Chinese boy explained placing his hands flat over the desk rolling his eyes around his desk irritated. “How can I lose something I know, where it was?” Jin complained, then noticed near the edge of the table, where his laptop was a white A6 sheet looking out a little bit from the computer, then Jin facepalmed and moved the laptop up to find there the envelope he was looking for and he picked it up.

“What’s in there?” Peng asked the cousin curious, which shrugged his shoulders.

“Yi is the one, who had to read it. I’ll hand it over to her. She already knows that I’ve forgotten to give it to her on her supposed birthday”

“Okay, are you going up to see her?” Peng asked earning a nod from Jin, that walked beside his bed to the night table to take a small black box, that had written Yi’s name with a white coloring pencil and Jin grabbed it looking at it with a smile. “Is that Yi’s present?” Peng asked earning a nod from the boy.

“Yeah” Jin answered.

“Are you going to ask Yi out with that gift?” Peng questioned making Jin shake his head.

“I already did that almost two months ago. I just never talked any of this to anyone yet”

"Why not?"

"We haven't talked about it, yet"

“Okay, so you won’t be coming back here after you' went up?”

“Just after dinner” Jin answered earning a nod from the child, then walked out of his bedroom, heading to the exit and went upstairs to the door leading to the roof, where he passed by a table, which was set for a special occasion. Jin noticed the small shack had the lights in it turned on, then he followed his way to the shack to spot Yi sitting on a wooden box looking into a blue book. Jin knocked on the metal board beside him getting Yi to look up and see Jin at the entrance.

“Come in” Yi invited the boy, which took a seat down on the box.

“How are you?” The boy asked looking at the girlfriend, which had a book with pictures in front of her.

“I’m good” The girl answered. “I’ve been looking at the family album of my family. Remembering precious moments from my childhood…..look at this one, where my father taught me how to ice skate” Yi pointed at an image of herself as a child while being held from behind by the father, watching her practicing.

“Really sweet” Stated Jin watching Yi turn over to the next page to see the next pictures. One of the pictures showed the younger Yi holding her father’s violin trying to play a tune on it, with him beside her watching her doing so, then a tear had fallen on the picture and Jin looked at Yi passing her hand to clean her eye. Jin looked at the envelope he held on his hands, then placed his hand over Yi’s shoulder watching her looking up at the boy. “I know I delivered your father’s letter a little late, but maybe it could make you feel better,” Jin said earning a short nod from the girl, which picked up the letter from the boy opening it up to open the full hand-written letter from her father.

“Dear Yi” Yi began reading the first lines. “Happy birthday. You’re probably wondering why I asked your friend Jin to keep this for you until your 16th birthday. I want to explain to you something, that I felt would be safe if it would be in someone else’s hands until your birthday. I was diagnosed many years ago with a heart problem. Your mother wanted me to tell it to you soon enough to spare your pain from the truth I’ve been hiding for so long. But I know you well. I know you would rather spend all the free time you had with me as long as I was there and you would miss your childhood, where you were allowed to be free. So your mother and I decided to keep this a secret and only reveal it to you when you were old enough to understand it. I hope you understand my choice and forgive me about it,” Yi read out loud the first paragraph of the letter, therefore she raised her head surprised about her discovery.

“I can’t believe he was ill during all these years” Yi mentioned looking at Jin, which gazed sadly at the girlfriend at hearing her story. “I have noticed he had a couple more appointments at the doctor, but I thought they were just check-ups. I literally don’t even know anything about them of how they went or anything” Yi remembered followed by Jin placing his hand on Yi’s shoulder for comfort.

“It’s not your fault Yi” Jin whispered earning a nod from Yi. “I think if they really would have told you about his disease it would have been worse for you. He didn’t want this to happen to you” The boy explained earning a nod from the girl.

“Yeah” Yi mentioned looking down at her letter, that had another longer paragraph in it. “He wrote more here for me” Yi mentioned earning a nod from the boy. “I’m thankful for the time I got to spend with you in our free time. I enjoyed the times we played Mahjong together, sometimes we went together to the Zoo or the aquarium to see all the various animals, the warm evenings we spend in our little shack on the roof planning our family trip across China. What I enjoyed the most was that one day you got interested into knowing how to play on the violin and I taught you a few tunes, months later you’ve improved and turned into a great violinist just like me,” Yi finished reading then moved the page to see more text on the other side. “Your mother and I knew each other since we were kids. I’ve told her everything the few months after we started dating after high school was over. But I told her she didn’t need to worry since everything was stabilized and I just tried at least to be able to go to the doc to check my health. I wrote the letters months ago, I’ve told your mother about it too just for her to know if I wouldn’t make it give it to your friend to keep it for you. I believe it was hard for you to manage to lead with my dead and so it was for your mother. I know you two manage to move on with your life. Don’t ever let your head down just because of my absence. You have your whole life in front of you. Make the best out of it, every day. I love you very much, my darling. Love, your father,” Yi finished, then smiled holding the envelope close to her. Jin smiled at the girl’s feeling after reading the letter and patted her on the thigh.

“He just did that, because he didn’t want me to miss my entire childhood, because of his disease” Yi mentioned making Jin nod.

“You still could spend various occasions with your father as long as he was present. And he surely enjoyed all the seconds of his life” Jin stated earning a nod from Yi, who lied her forehead on Jin’s shoulder. Jin glanced down at the pockets of his pants, then moved his hand down and took out the black box he took from his room, then looked at Yi and held it in front of her eyes.

“What’s that?” Yi asked gazing at the boy, which shrugged his shoulders.

“I don’t know” He responded. “It’s a gift for you,”

“Cool,” Yi answered picking the box from Jin’s hands.

“Happy birthday” Felicitated the boy earning a smile from Yi, which opened the box to find in it a silver-colored chain with a yeti-shaped symbol attached on the end, with dark-silver colored paws and light blue points on the face, to imitate the eyes.

“I was the other day at Miss Burnish because of the bill and she had shown me Mr. Burnish’s yeti-inspired hall and it had some of these hanging. I know you’re not really a fan of makeovers and accessories, but I thought maybe you would like this” Explained Jin watching Yi take the necklace out of it, gazing at it.

“It’s really pretty, Jin” Yi complimented. “It’s…..like a mini-version of Everest”

“Pretty cool, huh?” Jin asked gazing with an amused smile at the girl, which looked back at him and nodded. “Shall I?” Jin asked earning a nod from Yi, watching the boy grab her necklace, opening it up and take it around her neck to fix it. Yi placed her hand under the yeti admiring it, therefore she looked up at her boyfriend again.

“It’s perfect” Jin stated, making Yi giggle shortly and reach her face close to Jin to peck him on his cheek. “Thank you”

“You’re welcome” Jin answered followed by her placing her arms around him for a hug. “If you don’t mind, could you scratch me there?” Jin asked jokingly, followed by Yi clapping him with one hand on the back making him chuckle. “I was kidding”

Yi shook her head smiling cheekily at the boyfriend, then leaned her head up approaching the boy for a kiss, then Jin approached the girlfriend with his head to share a kiss with her.

“Happy birthday!” A voice shouted causing the two friends to stop and look up at the entrance of the shack to see Yi’s school friend Alex stand there with a present under her arm. “And oh is that Jin?” The pink-haired girl asked surprised earning a nod from the raven-haired girl.

“Yeah” Yi responded. “We spent together a lot of time as his cousin Peng went on a…..school trip and we’ve came closer to each other and here we are now”

“That’s great Yi. You two totally make a cute couple, that I have to admit” Alex confessed making the two laugh. “Here is your gift, by the way,” The girl said handing the best friend her gift out.

“Thanks” Yi answered smiling at the friend.

“Shall we go out?” Jin asked. “I think dinner is almost ready”

“Your mother told me before, they would come up in five minutes” Alex mentioned, then the three left the shack in the same moment as the door to the building opened up and Peng came out carrying two plates with food followed by Yi’s mother, which brought bowls in her place.

“Did Nai Nai also make pork buns?” Jin asked earning a nod from the girl. “Yummy”

“You have to taste my grandma’s pork buns. They’re delicious” Yi mentioned placing her hand on her roommate's shoulder.

“Take your seats” Yi’s mother asked seeing Alex sit on the end of the table, then the woman placed down her bowls and before pulling a chair back to sit down, Jin did the woman the favor making the woman smile and sit down, followed by Yi, where the boy also did the same gentle deed and shove her in front to the table and sat down vice versa to the girl.

“You must be really tired of the trip Alex” Yi’s mother mentioned making the girl shake her head.

“Not at all. At least at the moment”

“Yi told me, if you don’t mind you could sleep on her bed while she sleeps on the couch”

“It’s fine, I don’t mind sleeping on the couch”

“No come on, you’re our guest. You sleep in my bedroom” Yi said earning a nod from her mother, which formed her mouth into an O as she noticed Yi’s new necklace.

“Wow, where did you get this necklace?” The mother asked.

“It’s from Jin” Yi answered making the boy smile.

“It’s nice. Makes me think on this necklace I’ve got here. He gave me on my birthday on the first year we were dating”

“Yes and mom, you probably don’t know it yet and I hope you’re okay with it. Jin and I are going steady with each other and that on the day we arrived Shanghai”

“I already knew that” Yi’s mother mentioned surprising the young couple.

“What? Both asked surprised.

“You were sitting on that evening like here and you two couldn’t stop gazing at each other smiling,” The woman told making Jin sank his head onto his shoulders embarrassed at the notice of the woman.

“So you’re okay with that?” Yi asked earning a nod from the mother.

“Of course. I know Jin is a great young man and your best friend. You two don’t need to ask for anything,”

“Thanks, but I’m not that perfect”

“I know, I meant just your friendship” The raven-haired woman explained, then Nai Nai appeared carrying a large bowl with the buns, placing it in the middle of the table.

“He fits well. It would not be bad to have one man in the family” Nai Nai added making Yi roll her eyes amused at her grandmother’s comment. “Everybody dig in”

All started to eat soon the people heard Peng and Jin moan enjoying the pork buns making the others laugh.

“No one in the world can make better pork buns, than Nai Nai” Peng added earning a nod from Jin.

“Well said Peng” Jin agreed making Yi’s grandmother smile at everyone enjoying the meal.

“I could eat the whole bowl in one go” Peng mentioned finishing the first bun, then taking out another from the bowl in front of him.

“Well, we’ve got one friend, who can do that” Yi mentioned earning a nod from Jin and a curious look from Nai Nai.

“Who?” She asked making the whole family laugh. “What I’m serious?” Nai Nai stated watching them laugh again, then Yi looked up at the dark sky seeing all the small stars and three of them lightened brighter than the others, making Yi smile and she looked back at her bowl to continue the dinner followed by the three lights blink one after the other.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's was the last chapter of my fic. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much I enjoyed writing it. This fic got finished quicker since I was for a month unemployed and my new contract was going to start only at the beginning of March and I had plenty of time to continue it, otherwise I was doing other things when I couldn't continue it. I don't have at the moment any plans, what to continue. Usually, at the ends of all my fics I announce it but I somehow end up doing things I didn't promise in the first place :D 
> 
> I rather leave that out to not create empty promises, that don't happen or happen way later. Feel free to review this fic and maybe I'll be able to write something more for this fandom when I get something.


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